Seven Village Stomp
by Xylix
Summary: While searching for Jusenkyo, Genma and Ranma get a wee bit lost.
1. Lost

**Author's Warning -- **_This story is primarily a 'romp'. That means the purpose of this story is for the main character(s) to run around, fight random opponents, gain powers, with no clear agenda, purpose or overall objective. This story is **not** likely to have an advanced or complex plotline._

_Befitting this style of story, a higher end interpretation of Ranma's powers/skills/talents will be taken (inversely, Eldritch Asylum uses a conservative Ranma). Finally, I will make no promises this story will ever be completed, continued, or have something resembling a satisfactory ending. It will stop when I'm tired of writing it, be it after one chapter, or after one-hundred._

_For those who are curious, yes, I am still writing Eldritch Asylum with obsidian_fox, and have no intention of ever stopping (even if it takes a decade or more to complete __**that**__ story.)_

_You have been warned. _

-oOo-

Bright blue finally breaks through the haze which had shrouded the sky for the past week, and Ranma takes a moment to bask in the brief sunlight filtering through the trees above. Drinking in the warmth his eyes drift to the scattered mountains in the east. Already they are growing distant, the tall craggy peaks from before shifting into rolling hills filled with lush green life. Here and there a face of rock still breaks free from the thickening vegetation, the brown orange and crumbly earth exposed to the elements.

Ranma doesn't recognize any of it.

Ranma's returns his gaze to the dirty gi, and broad shouldered back of his father. It has been a week now, since Ranma felt as though he could pick out a landmark here and a landmark there. That, in and of itself was not so worrisome. Traveling through Chinese wilderness as they were, it was even slightly expected. No, bigger questions arose from the surprising fact that he'd yet to see signs of civilization, and, more importantly, his father had a rather 'lost' look about him.

"Pop, you _sure_ you know where we are?"

"Of course I do, boy," the older man growls back, a large strong arm smashing aside a small tree.

"You've been saying that all week, old man."

"Of course I have. You've been asking all week."

Ranma's eyes flash, and all at once the boy stops. "That's 'cause you don't look like you know where we are going. We left those mountains half a day ago, and you still haven't explained why. So, yeah I'm asking, and unless you give me a real answer I'm going to assume you got us lost."

"Lost?" Several paces ahead Genma Saotome comes to a halt. Slowly, he turns to face his son, fierce dark blue eyes piercing through worn spectacles. "You think we're lost, boy? Seems to me that when I drag your sorry carcass back to Japan, I'm going to have to give the state a couple of extra months to straighten out that head of yours. We aren't lost, boy. If you'd been studying that geography of yours, you'd know that. I know exactly where we are, and exactly where we are going."

Ranma rolls his eyes. "That's bullshit, Pop, and you know it."

Genma glares at his child a moment longer, then his features fill with emotion. Raising his gaze to the heavens, thick tears rolling down both cheeks, and his voice wavering with sorrow the man cries out his lament. "Why? Why did you curse me with such a stupid son? Is it too much for a parent to ask? that a child would read his books? respect his father? do his homework?"

Ranma grinds his teeth, but resists the urge to plant a foot in the old man's face. Not that the old man doesn't have it coming. Rather, after years of his father's company Ranma has realized that a rough and tumble fight, while satisfying, does little but delay Genma's stubborn refusal to accept reality. Personally, Ranma would prefer the `I'm not lost` ends sooner rather than latter. Otherwise, Genma might stop only after they'd hit the Atlantic.

Abruptly, Genma's fake tears stop. The large man's body shifts, and a finger is suddenly thrust toward Ranma's chest.

"Tell me boy, where were we when _you _got lost."

Ranma's eye twitches, and his left hand clenches in a fist. It'd be so easy... but Ranma resists the urge. "North-western Qinghai province China, somewhere in the mountains."

"And tell me, boy, what is _west_ of the Qinghai province?"

Ranma sighs, and reluctantly sets his heavy pack on the ground. He digs past his real supplies and begins to brush aside the heavy weights at the bottom: a flail, metal cooking gear, several ratty old text books covering a spattering of subjects from Japanese history to basic calculus, to finally pull out a regional atlas/encyclopedia, or, as Genma had put it: _'it's your new geography book, boy. I expect you'll have it read before this trip is over.'_

Ranma didn't really know what was more absurd, the idea he'd actually read the thing, or his father's insistence that it was _'just as good as any old text book'. _ Still, Ranma is willing to admit that an atlas is at least marginally useful. What self respecting martial artist needs to know algebra anyway? Quadratics, the thought alone is enough to make Ranma shudder.

"Aha!" Genma shouts. "I knew you weren't studying, boy."

"Shut it, Pop," Ranma grumbles, shooting his father a feeble glare while thumbing through the pages. "Let's see, Xinjiang is bit to the northwest, and Tibet to the southwest. Guess we must be in Xinjian province then, Pop, 'cause it's too warm, and the air isn't thin enough to be in Tibet."

"You see, boy. We aren't lost, we're in Xinjian province," Genma explains, nodding wisely to himself.

"Please, you didn't know that until I told you. Besides, I _know _you said Jusenkyo is in Qinghai province."

"It is," Genma grumbles quietly.

"Exactly!" Ranma smirks insufferably. "Just like I was saying, we're lost."

Genma grunts. "Don't be stupid, boy. Who ever heard of someone whose lost, yet knows were they are?" With that the larger man pushes up his glasses, and resumes his trek to the west.

"Hey!" Ranma shouts, taking rapidly quickening steps to catch up with his father. "Hey! Where are you going, old man? I thought we agreed Jusenkyo is the other direction."

"We aren't going to the Jusenkyo, boy. I thought that'd be rather obvious." Genma growls, his movement rising from a rapid walk until he is flashing from tree branch to tree branch.

Ranma shifts into an all out sprint, flashing through the forest, trees and branches bending back like springs at his every step. Even with that effort it takes some time and quick maneuvering for the boy to place himself in front of his father. A few quick sidesteps from there forces the annoyed man to a halt.

Ranma meets Genma's glare with one of his own. "If we aren't going to Jusenkyo, then exactly where are we going? Huh? Yeah, that's what I thought. I'll be damned if you drag us a thousand miles in the wrong direction just because you're not willing to admit you're lost."

Genma glowers, and leaps to a tree branch high above. From there he manages a few seconds of breakneck pace before Ranma positions himself in the front again.

"Out of the way, boy."

"Tell me where we are going then," Ranma retorts.

"West," Genma growls the word. "For supplies. Now get out of my way, or I'll move you myself."

Ranma's muscles tense in anticipation, but after a second of thought he moves to the side, allowing his father to stomp forward.

"So when did you decide that. A week ago when we overshot our destination?" Ranma needles. A moment later he stops, face adopting an expression of horror. "No... that was three hundred miles ago. Pop, please tell me we haven't been heading the wrong way since we hit that mountain monastery near Golmud."

"Don't be stupid, boy," Genma grumbles under his breath. "I told you already, this is just a small detour for supplies. We'll be back in the mountains before you know it."

"A small detour, eh? We've been out of the mountains for at least a whole day now. How many more do you think it'll be before we run... into... a..."

Ranma and his father crest a tall hill, and the boy's mouth hangs open in mid-word. Now, with the land falling away him Ranma can see the the forest shatter into a dozen open fields. A thin dirt road carves through the woods reaching into the distance where it meets a walled city.

"Ha ha ha," Genma laughs loudly, slapping his son on the back. "What did your old man tell you, boy? And to think, you were accusing me of being lost."

Ranma flashes Genma a scowl, but offer no retort. Instead he squints into the distance, scrutinizing the mountain backing the city. "Is that..., Mount Rushmore?"

"Hmph! Keep going on like this boy, and you'll be failing all your classes back in Japan. I'll have you know that Mount Rushmore is found in Washington, DC the capital of the United States, not in Xinji-i-i-... China."

"North Dakota, Pop." Ranma murmurs leaning further forward. The face like carvings however, refuse to resolve into clear portraits. "Mount Rushmore is in North Dakota. Also, Washington was their first president, not a city."

Genma glowers. "Why did you mention Mount Rushmore then, boy? And if Washington, DC isn't the capital of the United States, what is?"

"Because the mountain has faces on it," Ranma explains. "At least it kind of looks like it does."

Genma frowns and joins Ranma in squinting. After a long moment the older man takes off his glasses and rubs them against his dirty gi, and then looks again. Eventually, Genma says, "I think you're right there boy. That mountain does look to have faces on it. Probably just a knock off to try to get some tourists. Pay it no mind." His eyes jerk to his son. "Now, answer my question."

Ranma winces, he'd been hopping his father would forget about that. Desperately the boy glances about for some new distraction, when he finds none, he pulls the first name that feels 'right'. "New York...?"

Genma cocks his head to the side for a minute. "You might be right about that one." The older man says after a while. "But don't think you won't be looking that up at dinner, boy."

-oOo-

It took them two hours to reach the walled city, mostly because both Genma and Ranma felt like walking. In the intervening time the cloudy haze was vanquished completely, giving way to brilliant blue sky, and scattered fluffy, white clouds. The sun hangs high, leaning only slightly to the west. By Ranma's judgment an hour or two past noon.

Ahead of the pair, is the stone wall surrounding the city's core. Ranma eyes the fortifications appreciatively, not high enough to stop him of course, being only ten meters in height, but it would certainly give an ancient army more than a pause. As they approach the wall, the dirt road begins to curve, following in parallel until it meets a wider city street, which passes under the city gates. There, Ranma can make out a security squad, watching in boredom as random civilians move to and fro.

"Please identify yourself and state your business," a teenage boy drones when they reach the entrance. The boy doesn't even bother to stand, and still holds an open book in his left hand. Like the other guards, this boy wears an olive-green flack jacket, and a metal plate banded to his forehead.

Ranma starts, and frowns. Japanese? In China?

"We're wandering martial artists," Genma announces. "It is our intention to seek traveling supplies, and, if there should be any, the wisdom of fellow practitioners of the art."

The book in the teenager's hand droops to the left, and further back, a second child, not much older than thirteen, snickers quietly. For a moment there is no answer, until a young man steps forward and smoothly resumes the questioning.

"From where are you traveling?"

"From the east," Ranma interjects, before glaring at his father. "Waaaaayyyy east."

"What?" the snickering kid asks suddenly. "Across the ocean?" The boy chuckles even louder, earning a glare from the older man.

Ranma snorts, and retorts, "_Yeah_, how _did_ you figure it?"

"Quiet boy!" Genma hisses.

"Ahem!" the man interrupts. "It seems you've traveled far...," the man stops, and bops the young boy on the head, stifling the muffled laughter. "But fortunately, we have no reason to refuse anyone entrance at this time. For your information, there are many grocers, hotels, and numerous other stores along or near the main street. The wisdom of expert combatants is, alas, beyond the reach of outsiders." The man pauses and offers a friendly smile. "There is, however, a public library. There you'll find a surprising number of basic techniques and training methods. Not the same as the academy to be sure, but I think a civilian enthusiast, such as yourself, will be more than satisfied with the offerings. Now, if there is nothing more, welcome and have a nice day."

"Uh..., thanks?" Ranma replies.

However, before anything else can be said, Genma is dragging Ranma away from the wall. A few seconds later the older man is hissing into his ear.

"What did you think you were doing, boy? Did you forget we don't have passports? Last thing we need is the PLA breathing down our necks."

"Oh, just shut it, Pop," Ranma says, rolling his eyes. "Or didn't you notice we were speaking Japanese back there? It was pretty obvious they had us figured out."

Genma snorts. "I'll have you know, boy, that _wasn't_ Japanese."

"Uh, Pop. Unless both of us magically learned Chinese, they were most definitely speaking Japanese."

"You got in one, my boy!" Genma declares, slapping Ranma heavily on the back. "It seems those pills we bought are finally paying off!"

"_We_ bought?" Ranma growls at the reminder. "You're the one who blew off the cash we raised for the boat ride on that ridiculous scam. Thanks to those pills I had to swim across the damn ocean."

"Quit your whining. You are starting sound like a little girl," Genma grunts. "And, in case you've forgotten, I was right there swimming with you. Besides, what's a little water if gets you a new language in exchange, eh?"

Ranma glowers at his father. 'A little water,' he says. "Hmph. Doesn't change the fact you got conned. I know for a fact that those pills were fakes."

"Fake, hmm?" Genma turns his eyes to the sky. "Why? Why is that my boy seems to grow more foolish by the minute?"

"Stop that," Ranma growls, glancing around to see several pedestrians staring at the pair and whispering to one another. "Or I'll beat some sense into you, old man."

"The day you stop being a fool is the day I'll stop lambasting you about it, boy," Genma retorts. "First this nonsense about being lost, and then my foolish son doesn't even open his ears. Yes, that's right boy, listen! You hear that?"

Grumbling to himself Ranma does stop, and he does listen. All around children, men and women hustle and bustle through the busy city streets. Shop owners call out for attention, advertising low prices on knives, souvenir head bands, any and everything imaginable... in Japanese.

"_Ooookaaaay._ That is pretty creepy. I'll give you that much, Pop," Ranma says glancing up and down the streets with new eyes.

Now that he is paying attention, Ranma begins to notice other oddities. Like the fact that all the roads are built for human traffic, and lack any provisions for cars or other motor vehicles. Indeed, the whole city seems spotted with anachronisms, which combine with a slight, but distinctive Japanese feel to create an oddity born both of the future and the past.

Well, _maybe... _Ranma is willing to admit to himself that his interest in other people's cultures ranks just behind his burning desire to study organic chemistry.

Frowning to himself, Ranma decides now wouldn't be a good time to bring up that he threw _his_ pill away. "Say, Pop. Is it just me, or does this town seem a bit strange?"

"Hmmm," Genma cocks his head to the side for a moment. "Now that you mention it, walled cities are rather unusual."

"I was thinking that too, but looking around I can't remember seeing any train tracks or any kind of major roads leading to this place either. This city is more than a little on the big side for that."

"Between the hills, forests, and mountains I wouldn't be so sure there isn't a major road, boy." Genma replies. The old man pushes up his glasses and once again begins to walk. "Enough of this. Odd or not, a city is a city and we best be taking advantage of that fact. Find us something to eat, boy. I'll take a look at this library."

-oOo-

_Whooosh! Whoosh, Whoosh. _ Ranma watches as three dark shapes flash overhead. The trio leap across the rooftops, before bounding up and over a tall building and out of sight. It is the second time today Ranma has witnessed roof-hoppers fly by, and it only serves to instill in the pigtailed boy how strange a sight he and his father must be when it is they who pass above the ground bound men and women around him.

Ranma continues to gaze for a moment longer. Then, the smell of cooking food and the rumble of his stomach draws Ranma attention away from the rooftops. He watches in envy as three boys, all wearing metal headbands, and an older man laugh over a bowl of ramen. The delicious smell and companionship remind Ranma of a horrible truth that became apparent shortly after the old man sent him on his way. He has no money.

Well, he has_ some_ money_. _A quick search of his pockets had turned up some 2000 Japanese yen, and about 70 Chinese yuan. Not that it matters with shop keepers asking for ryo. Ryo! Did they think he had walked out of the edo period? Seriously, who carries gold coins?

Ranma shakes his head, strolling absently through the streets. His eyes linger on rooftops as his feet carry him toward a distant city park. A third and forth set of dark shapes zip across the tops of buildings, their figures a blur. As they pass by, Ranma finds his curiosity stirring. Having nothing better to do he gathers his strength to leap to the rooftops-

"... boy! Boy!"

The tension in Ranma's legs release, and the boy turns a lazy eye toward the big bald man pressing through the crowd.

"Hey, Pop. I don't have anything, and before you give me any crap that's because I don't have any money."

Genma strolls the last few steps to his son wearing a silly grin. "Yeah, I'm sorry about that, boy. Doesn't matter anyway. Looks like they use a local currency," The large man affectionately pats his son on the shoulder. "But don't you worry, your old man has it all figured out!"

As he speaks the old man whips two neatly pressed suits from under his gi. Ranma winces at the sight, and immediately starts nursing a headache.

"No. Just no."

"Do not think such dark thoughts, boy. Today is a great day! A day of happiness. A day of joy. A day where two lucky souls will be joined in blissful matrimony!" Genma declares loudly, swinging his arms high, and the suits higher.

"And a day where people put lots of food on big long tables," Ranma adds.

Genma nods wisely. "Of course, that's the entire point!"

Ranma's stomach gives another grumble, and the boy lets out a sigh. "A wedding isn't so bad I suppose, but we aren't _ever_ crashing another funeral."

Genma chuckles. "I suppose that did get a bit out of hand. Here, boy."

The older man thrusts the suit into Ranma's hands. Then, in a disturbing show of martial arts prowess, Genma tosses his own suit into the air, a fraction of a second later it is joined by a sweat stained, martial-arts gi, and a ragged pair of pants. A pinkish blur intercepts the aerial suit, and in the blink of an eye, a smartly dressed Genma is touching down, left hand casually nabbing the clothes he'd discarded a second ago.

Genma shoves his clothes into his pocket, where the giant mass disappears without showing a bulge. It is only then that the man removes his ever present bandanna, revealing shining baldness. As his father pats his own head pathetically, Ranma cannot help but notice that in the crisp, clean suit the large, bespectacled man takes on the appearance of a fat and corrupt, corporate CEO. Ranma finds the clash of respectability and snake oil salesman more than a little disconcerting.

"Well? What are you waiting for?" Genma snaps, after nearly a minute of forlornly picking at the last few hairs on his head.

"What? You think I'm going to change right here? In the middle of the street?" Ranma asks. "I've got better things to do than flash a bunch of pedestrians."

"Don't be a girl, boy!" Genma growls. "You've got nothing to be ashamed of. Now, get in that suit!"

The large man yells the last leaping toward his son, arms spread wide. Choosing the better part of valor, Ranma backpedals into a nearby ally, while knocking his father's hands to the side.

Once safely guarded from sight, Ranma shoves his father back one last time and relents. "I'll do it myself, Pop. I'm not four."

Once Genma backs off, an irritated Ranma begins to peel off his own clothes. Doing his best to ignore the the rare glances from the street, the boy pulls on a pair of black trousers, slips into a white dress shirt, and finally dons the jacket.

Mostly clothed, and fumbling with his bow, Ranma exits the alley. Glancing over at his father, he asks, "So who's the lucky girl?"

"Hyo..., Hyu..., Hiraga? No, that isn't right." Genma fiddles with his glasses for a moment, and then slaps Ranma on the back. "Don't worry, boy. We'll figure it out when we get there."

Ranma snorts. "Yeah, well, I'd like to know the family names _before_ someone tries to talk to us."

"Ha! Tell you what, boy. If someone asks you a question, just make sure your mouth is full. That way you can just mumble: Hiuunnngaaa. It'll be close enough, and they ought to leave you alone after that."

-oOo-

A small blond haired child quickly glances to the left, right, and back again... then scans the ground for good measure. Nothing, nobody... but not for long. Never for long. Not for the first time today, he curses himself for playing a prank on the ANBU. Really, he should have known better. He _does _know better. Never prank group which has _assassination _in their name. A nice good and simple rule.

But the chance had been too much to pass up. Today had been, no _is_ the perfect opportunity to get back at the stuffy animal masked guys, and to prove to all of Konoha that he, Uzumaki Naruto, is the man destined to become the next Hokage. Only today does he have a chance of escaping the, admittedly vastly more skilled ninja.

And everything had been going to plan. This morning he'd woken up, and carefully filled the beer bottles three-fourths full of brackish water, and pressed back on the lids. He'd removed the coffee grains left to 'weather' in the outside storm drain, and fitted them into their can, but not before topping it off with a camouflaging cover of the real thing. Then, there was the grand finale, eight bags of dog dung, each with an expensive explosive note tucked inside.

The result had been glorious, but victory requires that he escape the ANBU. Naruto stares longingly at the festivities not far away. Cheerful voices, the smell of food, and the clamor of the crowd. His destination, safety. He wishes for it to be more than that, but knows it will not happen. They will not smile at him, the will not share with him their food. To them, the Hyuuga, he is less than dirt.

It almost makes him wish that'd he'd targeted them instead. But, in its own way, the plan has a vengeance upon them as well. For the Hyuuga who despise him so much, would now protect him from the most fearsome ninja in all of Konoha. After all, nobody is stupid enough to crash a Hyuuga wedding. Nobody.

But, first he has to make it there, and do it unseen. The Hyuuga will throw him out if they catch a glimpse of him, and that'll be the end of that. So, cautiously, Naruto creeps out of the alley dumpster and begins to sneak toward wedding. Once there is only open ground between him and the celebrating families, he presses his back against a building, and begins to nervously time the final dash. Waiting, waiting... _there _one of the Hyuuga guards is approaching a some fat merchant, and his pigtailed son. Taking his chance, Naruto makes a mad dash finishing with a slide under the table.

With the table cloth fluttering behind him, Naruto grins. Take that animal masked bastards! Even the best Konoha has to offer is no match for the epic genius of Uzumaki Naruto.

"... Ano?"

Every muscle in Naruto's body goes rigid. Slowly his head twists around until it feels like it is going to snap off his neck. Victorious grin frozen on his face Naruto stares into eyes of milky-lavender. Paralyzed, it takes several seconds for Naruto to recognize the girl's face. Hyuuga... uh..., the shy girl that sits in the back of the class.

"Ha, ha, ha," Naruto laughs stiffly, shifting his body to match the direction of his face. "This isn't what it looks like."

The girl crawls the rest of the way under the table. "Why are you hiding?" she asks. Then after seeing seeing the blond's face go pale she stares at the ground and softly adds, "D-don't worry. I won't tell anyone."

"Eh?" Naruto says a bit too loudly, then after an uneasy silence he continues in a whisper. "Thanks... uh..."

Naruto's vain attempt to recall the girl's name is interrupted by a heavy thud, the clash of metal, and a sinking table. Naruto's head jerks up.

"Wha-" is all the boy manages before the world turns inside out.

-oOo-

Ranma chews on a particular savory chicken leg. He has to hand it to the cooks, they certainly know how to prepare a meal. Gulping down the last bite, and flushing it down with water, Ranma spares a glance to his father, who is doing his best to engulf an entire ham at once. Rolling his eyes at Genma's disgusting antics, Ranma shovels mashed potatoes straight from the serving bowl and into his mouth.

"Hey!"

Seeing as though his father is otherwise occupied, Ranma decides to tackle the sushi. The first bite is pure heaven, so the boy shoves three more morsels into his mouth all at once to extend the experience. His bliss is interrupted when a man grabs his shoulder and spins him around.

Ranma take a moment to view the rude fellow who grabbed his shoulder, while popping another eel based roll into his still mostly full mouth. The fellow has rather weird eyes, is wearing monk like robes, and looking peeved. After a brief consideration, Ranma decides to attempt the diplomatic route. "Mo!" Ranma manages, raising a hand in greeting. "Moo oud ry uh ickenn, ii rearry ood."

The pigtailed boy nods toward the mostly decimated chicken after delivering his recommendation.

The weird eyed man however, only looks irritated. "Who are you with?"

Ranma's eyes widen, and he lifts a finger. What was that name again? "Hiuunnngaaa," Ranma declares, chucks of rice falling from his lips.

The man's eyes narrow, and Ranma can see his muscles tensing with a desire to strike. Clearly, _Hiuunngaaa _didn't work as expected. "I don't know what they two of you are up to, but be very glad that I don't wish to mar a day of celebration with violence," the man growls.

Ranma cocks his head to the side thoughtfully, and then gazes back at his father. The large man gives his son an intense gaze from behind his glasses. After so many years, Ranma can practically hear the command echoing in his head: _Take care of him, boy. I'll get the food._

Ranma gulps down the remaining bite, and pats the guy on the shoulder. "Sorry about this," he says, flashing a friendly smile.

"Don't get friendly wi-" SMACK.

Lowering his foot, Ranma admires the parabolic arc of his opponent, as the unquestionably unconscious man falls toward the table. There the man, partially spun around by the sharp blow to the chin lands on his shoulders, bounces off the table and finally falls flat on his face. However, Ranma's joy turns sour quickly.

The bastard landed on the chicken dammit! Ranma curses himself, and quickly nabs another eel roll. Popping the food in his mouth, he watches the table cloth writhe like a living snake. A second later, the entire table is rolling up into an overly large ball, all food stuffs included. No closer to gleaning the secret to his father's technique than ever before, Ranma returns his eyes to his fellow 'guests'.

"I just want to say before we leave: best wishes to the bride and groom!"

Ranma flashes a cheeky grin, but, alas, his audience lacks an appreciation for the artistry of the situation. Two more guys, this time with the veins popping out all around their milky-eyes, are dashing toward him from either side. Mentally laughing at their amateurishness, Ranma sprints forward to meet the first.

Once in range, the man lashes out with an open palmed hand, but Ranma has already slipped through the man's guard. Arm reaching up for the guy's wrist, and hips sliding underneath his opponents center of mass, Ranma executes a perfect judo throw.

"Double Ippon!" Ranma shouts, as his thrown opponent sends the second sprawling across the grass. He shakes his right hand to get rid of the pins and needles that are crawling all over it. The guy must have brushed a shiatsu point by accident.

Ranma shoots a glance back toward his father. "You ready over there, Pop?" He asks. The crowd is starting to get rather rowdy, and Ranma can see lots more milky-eyed guys and girls gaining their own throbbing veins of anger.

Genma hefts a white bag, as big around as the man is tall, over a shoulder. His eyes flash to either side, stopping briefly on the more experienced warriors who are subtly moving to cut off escape. He turns his gaze to Ranma and makes a sharp nod. The bald man then steps forward.

"Prepare yourself, you pathetic disgraces to the art." The old man bellows. "For you're about to face the most powerful technique the world has ever seen. Saotome final attack! -"

Both Ranma and Genma sink to their knees leg muscles coiled like springs, their auras gaining strength until the air wavers visibly around their forms.

"-Fast break!"

In an instant, both turn their backs to the bulk of the crowd and explode into the air. A single leap carries them sailing in a high arc to land on the roof of a low-lying building near the open park. Four more steps brings the pair to full sprinting speed, and the second before running out of roof, both leap again. Flying even higher and even further Ranma clears the small park completely. His father tags slightly behind, having used the top of a tree as a foot hold to reach the distance his unencumbered son achieved.

"Told you this was a bad idea, Pop," Ranma says conversationally as the older man joins him on the roof.

"Don't stop running, boy!" Genma growls, before a third jump carries him two buildings further.

"Wha- Oh, crap!"

At least a dozen men and women crest the height of the building Ranma is on, all of their pupilless eyes pulsing with what he presumes to be unimaginable rage. The pigtailed boy stares for a frozen moment, but frees himself from the panic quickly. Increasing his own speed, Ranma fights to catch back up with his father.

"Damnit, pop! You just had to crash a wedding full of expert martial artists!" Ranma screams.

On instinct, his body sashay's to the left allowing three sharp knives to flash past. Quick spinning steps prevent Ranma from losing any speed, while flinging a series of roof tiles behind him. The concave ceramic rectangles boomerang though the air and zero in on the leading pursuers with eerie precision. The first is quick to react blurring into a spin which sends the broken stone fragments flying in every direction. His partner, a young teenage girl, is not so lucky. A roof tile blindsides her in mid air, and sends her spiraling through a window below.

Flipping one last roof tile with his foot, Ranma flies back into the air, making a dizzing leap to a building two stories taller than the last. He cringes however, when he sees his father stopped on the top, and more importantly the storm of flying black objects coming to meet him.

"Dammit!" Ranma curses, rolling, twisting, and snaking through the air to dodge what must be an entire roof's worth of orange, ceramic tiles. He winces when one manages to clip his shin, but still manages to land right next to his father, who immediately resumes running.

"What's the big idea, Pop!" The pigtailed boy snaps, as the pair descend to a lower building and then flash high into the sky.

"Whining right after your father stopped to help. You sound like a girl, boy!" Genma retorts, shoving his glasses back up.

Ranma takes a moment to glare at his father. "Well you didn't have to throw them at me too!"

"Hmph," Genma grunts as he easily lands and runs across the roof a two-story building. "If you couldn't dodge that after ten years of training, then you'd be no son of-"

Genma eyes suddenly narrow, and Ranma follows his gaze. Speeding across the rooftops are two quartets of dark shadows. Both approach from their right, and slightly ahead.

"They can't be part of the other group," Genma mumbles thoughtfully.

"Yeah, well, whoever they are, Pop, they are coming straight for us, and somehow I don't think they're going to stop for tea."

Ranma's eyes immediately start scanning the roofs for more attackers, and potential escape routes. He's about to suggest they start moving north when Genma shoves the large white bag into his hands.

"Hold this, boy. You're old man's got an idea."

"Hey, you're the one who wanted to steal the whole table," Ranma complains.

"Shut it, boy and listen to what I've got to say," Genma growls. "Good. Now, about about two miles north of here is bathhouse. When you see it you're going to have to go through it. I'll be a bit behind..., but this part is really important. We've got to get all of them to follow us in there. So we're going to need to slow down."

Ranma opens his mouth to make a snide reply, but then shuts it. His father has _that _look. The one that means he's taking things seriously. "I got you, Pop. But if we slow down, we're going have the angry-eyed freaks all over us."

Ranma glances back at the swarm of humans running and leaping across the roofs not far behind.

"Well boy. What do you say we entertain them with some good old _Entotsusoujifu Wasa._"

Ranma grins, and his eyes flit to a tall building with plenty of stone shingles. "Looks like we've got a place to make a stand, Pop."

"Good thinking, boy," Genma shouts.

A second later, the two land on top of the tall building. Both scan the terrain with sharp eyes. There is a chimney, thousands of nasty slate tiles, and plenty of bricks to top it all off.

"Looks lik- ow!" Ranma clutches the back of his head, and glares at the white bag his father handed him. Did the bag just punch him? Ranma shakes his head of the silly notion, but smacks the bag back nonetheless.

"What are you doing, boy? They're almost here!"

Ranma hoists the white tablecloth bag back over a shoulder. "Sorry, about that, Pop."

"Never mind that," Genma barks, as he watches their milky-eyed pursuers land on the roof they were on last. "Get ready!"

"Ready, Pop!" Ranma shouts back, setting down the bag to pick up an arm full of roof tiles. Immediately he picks out his target, his lips curling into a vicious smirk. "Take this, _Ishisaji Ame!_"

As one, Ranma and his father begin to hurl an enormous wave of spinning slate tiles. The first hit, are the unlucky few strange-eyed warriors that are already jumping up toward them. Unable to dodge, and lacking the skill to even try, they are blasted back by dozens of ceramic shingles. One leaping up toward Ranma attempts the strange spinning technique the pigtailed-boy saw earlier, but in the air the attempt was worse than useless. Instead, by relaxing his guard, Ranma manages to land at tile right between the eyes, sending the man plummeting to the alley below in blissful unconsciousness.

Those still on the lower building are more fortunate. A pair of the pursuers steps forward immediately, and blur into glowing balls of ki. Tiles shatter, and break sending shards flying everywhere. The less skilled cower in the back, guarding their faces with their arms. The defense is impressive, but, ultimately useless... because neither Genma nor Ranma are actually attacking the warriors themselves.

Instead, one out of three tiles shoot to the side, slicing through the roof, or boomeranging in from an angle. There, these tile charged with ki, ripped through wood and stone like water, tearing apart the roof, and severing the supports.

The smart ones abandon the defense, leaping to safety at the first unstable rumble. For those left behind, it is already too late. The defensive wall gone, the next wave of tiles obliterate the structure even faster. Soon voices cry out as they desperately attempt to escape the building caving in all around them.

The elation of victory, however, is quickly crushed. Two of the white-eyed warriors join Ranma and Genma on the roof. As one, their heads immediately shift to the huge bag. The narrowing of their eyes, and the tightening of their faces tells Ranma that their attackers are angrier than before. With the protruding veins around their eyes, their gaze holds a deadly intensity. But, Ranma cocky as ever, meets it none the less while flashing a _what you going to do about it_ smile.

The pair answer by blurring forward with shocking speed. Ranma finds himself stumbling, body bridged backward so far that his back is pressed against the white bag behind him, as a hand glowing with aura lances through the position his head occupied a second ago.

Ranma flips over the bag, his foot slicing millimeters from his opponents chin. The white-eyed man takes a step back to regain his balance, which gives Ranma enough time to shield his body with the stolen goods. Surprisingly this causes his attacker, to hesitate.

Ranma spares a glance, and sees the dark shadows only seconds away. "Pop!"

"I know, get out of here now, boy!"

Ranma doesn't waste a moment. With his attacker unwilling to strike past the bag, Ranma simply turns tail and runs. With a light jump, Ranma is off the roof and surrounded by two more white-eyed warriors. They hesitate. Ranma doesn't.

In a flash, Ranma's knee slams into the chin of the first, while the bag makes a long swipe into the second, sending him flying into, and through a nearby wall. Several more steps returns Ranma to a full sprint.

But it is too late. One of the distant shadows has caught up. A tall, large dark haired individual wearing a bear-faced mask stands in the way. With a flick of his wrist, the new opponent sends eight knives streaking toward Ranma. The pigtailed boy easily slips to the side, and dashes forward to slide by, but his attacker moves quickly, and forces Ranma to stop with a well aimed sword thrust.

Ranma steps back and to the right. When bear masked man moves with him, Ranma smirks.

"You lose." Ranma says cheekily, making an upward motion.

The bear masked man's head shift up slightly, just in time for his face to become Genma's landing platform.

The large bald man glares at his son, ignoring the poor fool who served as his stepping stone. "What are you waiting for, boy? Didn't I tell you to run?"

Ranma grins, and sprints forward, father at his side. "Just waiting for you to show up, Pop."

Both turn a corner and flit through a thick crowd as though it were open air. Almost twenty soldiers, now both the masked guys and the white-eyed guys shadow them from the roofs above. Ranma cringes at the thought of having to fight them all at once. Fortunately, however, their attackers seem reluctant to throw knives into a crowd.

Somersaulting over a frightened old lady, Ranma shoots a look over at his father, who is momentarily running along a building wall to avoid pedestrian traffic.

"This had better work, Pop."

"It'll work, boy," Genma replies. "Now, in that building there, and take the left side. Left side!" Genma shouts.

Genma slows a bit, allowing the pursuers behind to catch up. Ranma though, doesn't slow. Running full tilt he bursts through the bathhouse doors and immediately shifts to the left side of the divide. Instantly, Ranma finds his eyes wavering, when he encounters surprised naked women everywhere. He half stumbles, and barely musters the concentration not to stop altogether. Mentally cursing his father, Ranma does his best to ignore his male hormones and the what little chivalry he possesses and keep running. A few moments later, and he is free.

Well, mostly. Two more of the animal masked guys are almost ahead of him, and Ranma finds himself rolling under a hail of knives to avoid being skewered. For some reason though, the attack isn't followed up.

"Keep running, boy!" Genma roars.

"I'm tr-" Ranma's eyes widen as he glances back. His father is carrying an enormous pile of colorful clothes, and not far behind is a raging mass of naked women. More shocking is the bath house itself, which seems to have erupted into chaos.

Ranma only stops gaping when his father's hand grabs his collar and forcefully resumes his movement. The animal masked attackers are less fortunate, as Genma drapes all manner of unmentionables over their stunned bodies.

It takes a few seconds for Ranma's feet to resume their running, and even then the boy keeps glancing back at the bathhouse, which is now quite literally in flames. Of their score of pursuers, the number has dropped to a ragged band of four.

"Wha- wha- wha-," Ranma articulates.

"That, my boy, is the most terrible force in the world. The rage of women." Genma shudders, but doesn't break pace. "Something I learned well at the hands of my master, may he forever rest in many pieces."

"But...." Ranma glances back again as both he and his father leap over the city walls with a single bound.

"Don't try to make sense of it, boy. Only a girl can understand a girl, and you aren't a girl, are you boy?"

Ranma glares at his father. "I'm no girl."

"Exactly, my boy. Exactly." Genma lets out a laugh. "Now, lets see how long these guys can run. I'm betting they can't swim the Chinese-Japanese channel like you and me, eh?"

Ranma snorts, "I'll give you that much, Pop." He glances back at small squad. "I'll give them an hour or two. With they way they're breathing, they'll be half dead by then, maybe before."

Genma gazes back for a moment as well, "Nonsense. They have a decent warrior spirit about them, they'll make it at least four."

"Yeah right, Pop." Ranma rolls his eyes. "They might be good enough to pull it off, but for all that we pissed them off, we only crashed a wedding. Bet you the wedding cake they'll give up by two... and probably a lot earlier than that."

Genma adjusts his glasses. "Did I hear you right, boy? Are you doubting your old man after everything that happened today? Well, then prepare yourself to watch your old man eat an entire cake, slowly, while you are watching."

Ranma snorts. "We'll see about that old man. We'll see."

-oOo-

Faint pinkish light brushes the horizon, burning away the darkness. Ranma watches the rising sun, while slowly stretching every muscle in his body. Look up at his father, the pigtailed boy stifles a yawn.

"You think this is far enough, Pop?"

Genma drops from a tree branch, lazily discarding his damaged and sweat soaked suit. Shifting his glasses, the old man begins to pull on his older, and even dirtier gi. Only when Genma finishes tying his bandanna back on his head does he bother to answer.

"Hmm, I believe so. Given that they stopped a little after nightfall, that puts us a good ten hours of running ahead of them."

"Don't forget we lost an hour hiding our tracks. Yeesh. Who'd of thought someone could get that upset over a little thing like a wedding? And I even wished good luck on the bride too."

"Never underestimate the resolve of a true martial artist, boy," the older man declares, shaking a finger at his son. "Now, if I remember right, I have a cake to enjoy."

"Hmph," Ranma snorts. "You're welcome to it, Pop. After running all night, the last thing I need is pure sugar."

Genma lets out a low chuckle and shifts his glasses, the rising sunlight reflecting off the lenses in shimmering gold. "Just keep telling yourself that, boy. Your true colors will shine through soon enough."

"Oh, just shut up, Pop," Ranma grumbles. The pigtailed boy meanders over to the rolled up, tablecloth ball left beside the tree. Lazily he begins to pick at the knot trussing everything together.

"What do you think you're doing, boy?" Genma growls, stomping up to his son, and knocking his hands aside. "How many time do I have to tell you that there's a trick to it?"

Ranma grunts and steps aside. "Yeah, yeah, magic cloth techniques and all that. Don't want the food everywhere," Ranma dismisses, rolling his eyes. "Gods forbid that some of the cake gets mashed into the table. That'd be tragic."

Genma sniffs twice loudly, and brushes heavy tears from his eyes. "My son, dismissing the art so casually. Why? Why! Wherever did I go wrong raising him?" Genma's sharp gaze shifts to his son, who has found something more interesting to look at. "Watch your old man work his magic boy."

With a flourish, Genma tosses the wrapped huge ball high into the sky, then with a swift grab he whips the cloth to the left. Instantly, a table, still covered in undisturbed dishes, stacked plates, utensils and even wine glasses still filled to the brim, explodes out.

"Ha boy, do you now see the miracle of your father's secret techniques!"

Ranma doesn't bother meeting his father's eyes, instead raising a brow while pointing at a pair of dazed children who have spilled out from under the table. "So, Pop, got something you need to tell me, eh?"

Genma stares down at the young blond boy, and the dark haired girl, adjusting his glasses one, twice, and three times. Finally, the older man cocks his head to the side. "Hmmm. It seems boy, we might have a bit of a problem."

-oOo-

**Ending Notes:**

_**Triva:** Mount Rushmore is actually in South Dakota, there was a president named Washington, and Washington, DC is the capital of the United States. (yes, us Americans ought to know most of that, but children of other nationalities read fanfiction too!) _

_Getting reliable currency rates for Japanese Yen, and especially Chinese Yuan in the 1980s is difficult. But, Ranma is carrying the equivalent of about $20 (modern) in Yen, and about $30 in Yuan. _

_Ryo is the stated currency of the Naruto territories. Historically it is **also** the name of a Japanese gold coin massing 16.5 grams -- worth $10 to $40 (modern) depending on purity. However, given that Chiriku has a 30 million ryou bounty on his head we can safely presume that the Naruto ryo is NOT a gold coin, and has a substantially lower value. I'd estimate there is about 100 ryo to an American dollar, putting the value at roughly the same as a yen._

_**Naruto vs Ranma 1/2 pt I -- Ki vs Chakra**_

_The difference between Ki and Chakra is that there isn't one. Indeed, Naruto stamina and Ranma 1/2 ki are the same thing. Likewise, Chakra, the result of combining stamina with 'mental fortitude and force of will', is also ki. Note, Ranma 1/2 martial arts make no distinction between these two energies._

_Therefore, the question is begged: If chakra and ki are the same thing, then why so different combat styles and capabilities? The difference arises from the philosophy of training. Ranma and Genma have trained from childhood to unite 'mind, body, and spirit'. Literally, they have trained so that their ki reinforces every action they take from walking, to sleeping, to breathing, to eating. Naruto ninja, on the other hand, have spent their childhood and lives training to move their chakra separately from their body, that is the expulsion and molding of chakra, especially through the hands. _

_From this arises two different styles. Naruto ninja focus on 'energy' attacks, and fancy techniques. Even their taijutsu styles center around using momentary focus of chakra energy in the legs, or arms to increase strength or speed. The result is instantaneous strength, speed many times greater than seen in Ranma 1/2. Alternatively, Genma and Ranma provide much higher **average **physical ability, something even high level ninja would often shudder at maintaining (and if unskilled must concentrate to accomplish)._

_There is, of course, some cross over. Techniques like Bakusai Tenketsu, and Hiryo Shoten Ha bear similarities to the chakra techniques of ninja. Likewise, heavy taijutsu masters like Guy, and Rock Lee do some training to unite mind, body, and spirit._

_**Techniques**_

_I make no promises any of these translations are accurate. They were obtained by cursory examination and evaluation of words (and occasional Kanji) in a Japanese dictionary. I do not speak or read Japanese, and will not pretend that I can._

_**Entotsusoujifu Wasa** [lit. Chimney Sweep Technique] -- Combat style created for brutal rooftop fighting. Presumably made by martial arts chimney sweepers. How Genma and Ranma learned it is subject to your imagination. _

**_Ishisaji Ame _**_[lit. Stone Knife Rain] -- Rapid-fire throwing technique for roof tiles. Uses ki to create cutting ability capabilities ala Ryouga's bandannas, or Kuno's sword. Primarily involves throwing lots of tiles fast and accurately, though, and taking advantage of their irregular flight. Part of Entotsusoujifu Wasa._


	2. Brats

**Author's Warning – **_Once again this story is primarily a 'romp'. That means the purpose of this story is for the main character(s) to run around, fight random opponents, gain powers, with no clear agenda, purpose or overall objective. This story is **not** likely to have an advanced or complex plotline._

_Next, I will make no promises this story will ever be completed, continued, or have something resembling a satisfactory ending. It will stop when I'm tired of writing it, be it after one chapter, or after one-hundred. Also, the span of time between each chapter release is, as you might have guessed, random._

_Finally Eldritch Asylum which I write with obsidian_fox is sleeping, we have no intention of stopping that story._

**Chapter 2**

_**The day before, just after the incident**_

Sarutobi draws a deep breath through his old pipe, and then slowly exhales, smoking trickling and curling out of his nostrils. "So, is anyone going to tell me what exactly went on here?" he asks, mildly, eyes surviving the broken and shattered carcass of what used to be a bathhouse.

A troupe of sheepish men and women, all ninja, stand half clothed in front of the still burning ruins, refusing to meet their Hokage's eye.

"Hmmm... nothing to say," Sarutobi states. He chews on his pipe for a moment, letting the shinobi stew. "Well then. I think docking your paychecks will be the most appropriate action in this case. That and for the next two weeks you'll be assisting the genin in their duties. As you know, the next chunin exams are coming soon, and it would be good for our genin to have a taste of command experience."

Several faces cringe, but all kneel and put a fist to the ground. "Hokage-sama!" They shout as one, before vanishing in puffs of smoke.

Sarutobi lets out a sigh, and shifts his head to the ANBU still kneeling at his feet. "I trust Anko has settled down?"

A woman wearing a rat faced mask answers. "She is currently in a holding cell, sir. She won't cause anymore problems, for now...."

"Good, and the nins?"

"Three ANBU and one of the Hyuga is in pursuit... and sir, the Hyuga are reporting that the heiress has been kidnapped."

Sarutobi freezes. The Hyuga heiress, Hinata. A young and sweet girl who is sadly destined to become a ninja, despite her incompatible disposition. "Who, and when? I presume that a team is already assembled?"

"The ninja, sir. Two Hyuga report sensing the heiress and another child in the bag of stolen goods."

Sarutobi draws deeply on his pipe while thinking. If they kidnapped the Hyuga heiress, then most likely the ninja responsible are Cloud-nin. Worse, if the kidnappers make it to lighting country a war may well begin. "Close the borders, and reinforce near Lighting. Find me someone, _anyone_ who can identify these mystery-nin."

"Yes, Hokage-sama." As one the ANBU gather their chakra to shunshin toward their tasks.

"Wait!" Sarutobi orders. "First tell me, does anyone know the identity of the second kidnapped child?"

For a moment the rat masked ANBU is silent, then she quietly answers, "... Uzumaki, Naruto."

The pipe in Sarutobi's mouth grinds, and nearly cracks. "Get me Kakashi, now. He'll be heading up pursuit squad."

"Sir?" The rat masked woman questions. "But, Hiashi is insisting that he lead the pursuit squad."

The Hokage turns fierce eyes on the ANBU woman. "I believe I've made myself quite clear."

**Chapter 2**

_Brats_

-oOo-

For a long moment the two martial artists stare at the children, who are strewn upon the ground and beneath the shadow of the long buffet table. Ranma is the first to turn from the sight and instead glances up at his father. Genma has his bandanna covered head crooked and a hand stroking his stubble covered chin.

"Sooooo... Pop, what we going to do?" Ranma asks, thumbing toward the boy and girl.

"Hmmm...," Genma noises thoughtfully. He nods to himself. "I think I'll shave."

"I'm not asking about that," Ranma growls. "I was asking what we are going to do about the kids."

Genma grunts while shuffling over to the long table. He picks up a random knife and takes a moment to scrutinize the edge. Releasing another grunt, the large man shifts his grip on the knife. At once, glowing ki flows over the blade and then with a flickering motion Genma slices along his cheeks. A misting of fine powder, golden in the dawn's light, falls from the bespectacled man's face.

"The kids! What are we going to do about them?"

"I don't really see how its our problem," Genma finally answers. He sets the knife on the table and meanders over to the wedding cake. "Let the brats find their own way home. It'll build character."

"Damn it, Pop. We can't do that. We have to take them back."

Rather than answering, Genma takes the time to shoves a giant sliced of cake into his mouth. He chews slowly and swallows before answering. "Go ahead then, boy. You drag the kids back into a city full of pissed off martial artists."

Ranma closes his eyes and grinds his teeth. Yeah, thanks to the spoiled wedding, an obliterated bath house, and two kidnapped kids it is probably too much to expect that they'd get welcomed back with open arms. But, what else were they supposed to do?

Ranma lets out a sigh. "Well, on the plus side, we now know why those crazy, masked dudes were chasing us so long." Ranma glances back down at the kids, and watches the blond haired boy dizzily rise to a sitting position. Then he returns his eyes to his father. "Still, one way or the other, we need to figure out what to do with them... and letting two helpless kids find their own way home _isn't_ an answer."

Genma grunts and takes a long guzzling swig from a champagne bottle. "I don't see why not, boy. When you were a little brat, you certainly could."

Ranma growls and clenches a fist. "Pop, I could take down half a dozen yakuza when I was six. You can't expect weak little kids like them-"

"_Hey!"_ A new voice suddenly chimes in.

"-walk a hundred miles or two," Ranma continues. "Oh and Pop, toss me some of those shrimp."

"_I said hey! you bastards!"_

Genma glances to his side, slowly dips his hand into a crystal bowl, and then haphazardly tosses a trio of the pink crustaceans at his son. Ranma snaps all three out of the air with a viscous bite, head blurring into after images.

"Damn it, Pop. I meant the whole thing!"

_"Hey, don't igno-"_

"Ha, like I'd do that boy. You think that because I got the cake, you can just chow down on everything else?"

"Well, yeah," Ranma answers with a grin. "Why else did you think I let you have it, old man?"

"Hmph! Let me? I don't seem to recall you letting me do anything boy." Genma draws himself up, puffing out his chest while glaring down through his glasses.

"_-tards! I'll kill you!"_

Ranma answers his father's glare with a smirk. Leaning forward, his left foot lashes out and lands neatly on the back of a blond footstool. A quick thrust sends his inelegant attacker into the dirt and propels him high into the air. Flying at Genma, Ranma spins into a reverse back kick.

Genma's counters by casually catching the striking leg with an open hand, but Ranma's reply is quick. Pulling his captured leg in and arching his spine, Ranma converts the blocked kick into a flying elbow strike.

Back stepping, the big bespectacled man tosses the tray of shrimp high into the air and uses the now free hand to knock Ranma's strike to the side. Then, grabbing the back collar of Ranma's gi, Genma completes the the original throw by tossing the pigtailed boy into brambly bushes.

"That was pathetic, boy. I taught you better than that." Genma barks with a huff.

"'ho 'aught, 'ho 'etter 'den w'at?" Ranma answers as he stands up. A shrimp tail hanging from the pigtailed boy's lips rises and falls with his answer, while the crystal bowl spins upon the boy's index finger.

"_You bastards, you stepped on me!" _

For a fraction of a second the eyes of Ranma and Genma shift to the irate child, whose orange jumpsuit is now covered with dirt and dust. Face petulant with anger, the blond haired boy glances at Genma and then Ranma in consternation. Finally, he flings himself at the stouter man, arm crooked back in a wide punch. The wild assault is stopped, when the boy's stomach slams straight into Genma's foot.

Not even bothering to look down, the large man tosses the blond haired boy into the air, and captures the kid's left leg. "You making a fool out of me, boy?" Genma growls at his son. "We'll see who's the better man!"

Genma suddenly chucks the blond haired child at his son, then, just as quickly the large man dives beneath the airborne boy and makes a vicious strike at his son's legs.

Snatching the child with his right arm, Ranma leaps above his father's attack, and delivers a short sharp kick to his father's knee. Genma counters by allowing his mass to drop and his body to slide forward, while at the same time transforming his kicking leg into a support. When Ranma's heel lands, the strength is sapped and transfered into the earth.

Suddenly unbalanced, and with no limbs free for attack, Ranma pulls himself into a somersault over his father's shoulder. However, before the motion completes, a tug rips the crystal bowl from his grip.

"Hey," Ranma says, thrusting the gasping blond boy forward. "Using the kid isn't fair!"

An impossibly large lump flows down Genma's throat and the bespectacled man tosses the now empty crystal bowl to the side. "It's called anything goes for a reason, boy."

"Don't give me that shit, Pop. '_No harming the weak_', isn't that the rule _you_ taught me?"

Genma lets out a loud grunt. "Your foolishness is your weakness. I was in a perfect position to catch the kid if you didn't."

"Oh please, if you did that I'd have had a free shot."

Genma adjusts his glasses which briefly flash with the rising sun's light. "You'd punch through my blond shield? I think not. No, boy, what you should have done is use the child to narrow my avenues of attack."

"Hey! Let me down bastard!"

The blond kid suddenly starts flailing in Ranma's hand. Ranma takes a second to toss the kid next to the cute little girl that has been watching silently.

Tapping a finger on his chin, Ranma relents. "Yeah, I suppose I could've done that. Still, using a kid seems a bit cheap."

"Ha!" Genma laughs out. "If your sense of honor forbids it, boy, then you'll just have to get strong enough that cheap tactics don't work. That's the path of a true martial artist after all!"

"A-ano...," the girl begins. She briefly meets Ranma's and Genma's eyes and then suddenly looks away.

Ranma walks over and stoops down next to the girl. "No need to-"

The blond haired boy suddenly stabs at the pigtailed boy's head with a sharp triangular knife. Sighing, Ranma leans his head to the side, grabs the boy's wrist, and flings the kid over his shoulder.

"Baaaaastard!"the boy curses as he files through the air before falling into a bramble patch.

Ranma chuckles and scratches the back of his head. "Not the best impression I guess. So, what did you want to ask. Don't be shy, spit it out."

The girl takes a step nervous step back, and makes two attempts to glance up at the pigtailed boy before finally stuttering, "W-what do you p-p-p-plan to do with us?"

Ranma glances back at Genma, who is 'busy' watching the blond haired boy ineffectually pull himself from the thorny bush.

"Well, Pop and I haven't figured that out yet."

Genma folds his arms across his chest. "I'm telling you, boy, let them walk home."

"And I already said that a bunch of kids aren't nearly strong to cover all that distance."

"We aren't weak. We're ninja!" The blond declares as he drags his remaining leg from the bush. "And we don't need help from bastards like you."

Genma grunts, "As I said. Let them walk home."

"Fine, but I'm telling you its a bad idea," Ranma points a finger in an southwesterly direction. "Just head in that general direction, and don't forget to take some food with you."

"Ha! You lecture me and then send them in the wrong direction." The older man thrusts a finger to the west-northwest. "Its that way! And don't get it wrong, or you'll miss the city by fifty miles."

"Who is sending who in the wrong direction?" Ranma retorts. "Remember we turned North right after doubling back around that creek."

"Of course I remember, boy, but we headed back south when we hit those cl-"

"Yeah, but we ended up climbing them and after orienting ourselves we went-"

"East!" "Northeast!" They finish as one.

For a moment there is silence.

"Damn, I might have it wrong," Ranma says at last.

Genma lets out a light chuckle of his own. "You know, boy, I might be a bit muddled too. One too many times hiding our tracks and all that...."

"What we going to do about them then? We can't send them back without directions."

The brash blond haired brat suddenly speaks up. "Hey, I said I didn't need your help."

Ranma lets out a derisive snort. "Yeah, keep telling yourself that brat. That attitude of yours will do you a whole lot of good when you're lost and starving. Lucky for you I'm not like my old man. I'll _feel bad_ if I just leave you to die."

"Boy! How dare you disrespect your father," Genma growls at his son. He then turns his head to the sky. "Why does my child think so little of me! That my own son would confuse me with a lowly villain...."

"Hey! Hey!" The blond boy's shouts trying to grab their attention.

Ranma, however, ignores the boy's antics in favor of rolling his eyes at his father. "Its hard not seeing you as a villain, Pop, when you make it so easy."

"Is that what you think, boy?" Genma begins. "I'll show you how 'Uncle Genma' deals with children."

While Ranma snickers to himself, the bristling blond boy glares at both of the older men. Then the child turns to the nervous milky-eyed girl at his side.

"Don't worry, _I'll_ get us back to Konoha, believe it!"

"Hrm!" Genma grunts. "Brats, the boy and I have decided that we'll take you to the nearest town-"

"_Assuming we find one..."_

Genma continues, louder. "- and give you some money -"

"_After we steal some..."_

"- FOR A RIDE HOME," Genma booms over his son's voice. He shoots a quick glare at the snickering pigtailed boy before adjusting his glasses and looking down at the children anew. "Now, how does that sound?"

"I said we don't need your help," The blond boy declares stubbornly.

Genma stares. He adjusts his glasses. He gazes down for a moment longer. Then, in a flash, a hand lashes out and knocks the boy unconscious. Grabing the child be his legs and throwing the limb body over a shoulder Genma ambles over to the buffet table.

"Hurry up and grab the girl, boy. We're leaving," Genma says grouchily.

"'Uncle Genma' my ass," Ranma comments while strolling up to the girl. He grins down at her, "Don't let Pop fool you, underneath that tough exterior he's actually a teddy bear. A big, fat, lazy, and cruel teddy bear, but a teddy bear nonetheless."

The milky-eyed girl gulps and makes a terrified nod of agreement.

Ranma winces and glazes at his father for a while. The older man has sliced himself another piece of cake and is busy organizing the food and shoving it into their packs.

"So..., what's your name?"

"Hi-Hinata."

"That's a cute name," Ranma says, nodding to himself. "And the brat?"

"N-N-N-N-Naruto...," Hinata finally manages, though the girl still refrains from meeting Ranma's eye. "H-he's not a brat."

"Could've fooled me on that one. Well, Hinata, don't worry about anything. Pop and I will get you home.... Well..., we'll get you home eventually anyway...," Ranma trails off with a weak laugh. After a moment of silence the pigtailed boy looks away and shouts at his father, "Hey old man, where we headed?"

Genma hefts Ranma's huge pack and throws it to his son. "Jusenkyo of course. Though we'll have to stop at Golmud to drop off the kids."

"Right, convenient how that works out." Ranma says rolling his eyes.

The pigtailed boy takes a moment to sling his heavy pack over his back. The buffet table is now depleted of food. Every scrap of edible substance is carefully wrapped and stored in their traveling packs. Ranma grins, imagining the reaction when the lonely buffet table and scattered utensils are discovered. His smile widens when he sees the note Genma has jammed beneath the crystal shrimp bowl:

_Thanks for the food._

_Don't worry, we'll return the kids._

_P.S. _

_Have a happy marriage and many children!_

"Hurry up, boy!"

"Yeah, yeah. We're coming."

-oOo-

Step. Step. Step.

His feet burn, his legs hurt, how long are they going to walk?

Step. Step. Step.

The boy glares at the pigtailed figure ahead, and the larger man beside him. The younger man, 'Ranma', hold a notebook with both hands and carries a pen between his teeth. Occasionally he scribbles something or consults the larger, bulkier book currently balanced on his head.

Like his son, the older bespectacled is also busy reading. 'Genma', however, is busy consulting a series of scrolls, occasionally tilting them, or his head in odd directions as though to make sense of their contents.

Step. Step. Step.

And both of them walk annoyingly fast.

Tug. Stumble. Half a dozen very fast steps. With some effort Naruto returns himself the fast pace while gazing balefully at the rope that ties him to Genma Saotome. The large bespectacled man doesn't look back, or give any indication that he is aware that the rope went taut. More than likely the bastard doesn't care.

Next to him the Hyuga girl, Hinata, trudges huffing heavily but managing the pace. She repeatedly looks worriedly at the two men ahead before shooting quick glances in his direction. She has no rope tied to her... but she didn't say she was going to 'find her own way home' either.

The most insufferable thing of it all is that the bastards are right. He doesn't have the slightest clue on which way to go home.

Still, he _glares_ at them.

The pigtailed boy glances back, slips the pen behind one ear, then nudges his father with an elbow. "Hey Pop, it looks like the kids need a break."

The older man stops and shifts his eyes to his son. "You finish your math, boy?"

"Yeah, yeah, Pop. Forget about all that. The kids need a break and all that."

Genma grunts, and glances back at the children. Then he levels his gaze on his son again. "They're 'ninja'. A dozen or two miles won't kill them," the older man dismisses derisively.

Ranma snorts. "Kids are kids, and just cause they like playing 'ninja' doesn't make it so."

"Hey!" Naruto shouts, glaring at the two. "I'm not _playing_ ninja. I _am_ a ninja."

Ranma gives an amused grin, and laughs lightly under his breath. "Yeah, more like Ranger Roadwork Orange."

For a moment Naruto contemplates launching an attack. Which is exactly how he lost his only three kunai and ended up unable to cut himself free from this damn rope. His reward for the attempt on his captors' lives? A contemptuous smirk, and a_ 'Children shouldn't play with sharp objects. You'll put your eye out.' _Instead, he settles for a glower.

Which, predictably, has no effect.

"So, Pop, we going to stop or what?"

Genma shifts his glasses and gives his son a suspicious look. "I didn't hear you say you finished your math, boy."

"Ah, come on, Pop. I've been hearing your 'hrm's, 'hmm's, and 'umhmm's for a while now. I know you're dying to try something."

Genma pauses for a moment and looks down at the scroll in his hands. Then he looks back at Naruto. Finally he loosens the rope around his waist.

"Brat," Genma says, addressing the blond, "I'm going to let you go. But this time I won't chase you down if you run off, I'll just leave you in the forest to die. You hear me?"

Naruto musters a sullen nod, before finding himself a seat on a twisted tree root. After watching his two kidnappers argue amongst themselves for a moment, the blond haired boy's eyes wander off into the woods. How far is it from home? Which direction? Left, right, forward, or back? The truth is, he has no clue.

Naruto has never left the village of Konoha and never needed to learn the skills of navigating unknown terrain. Back home, he knows everything by sight. A quick glance at the surrounding buildings and he'll know where he is, and how to get pretty much anywhere else. Out here... he can't recognize anything, and there is nothing to tell him where to go.

"Ano..."

The quiet Hyuga girl's voice breaks Naruto's train of thought, and the boy finds himself looking into her large lavender eyes.

Hinata's gaze quickly shies from the blond boy's, but she manages to continue. "W-what do you th-th-think we should do?"

"We can't trust those bastards, that much is for sure." Naruto tugs at the complex knot tied around his waist, but it refuses to give.

"D-d-do y-you need help?" The girl stammers out.

Naruto nods and releases the knot. The Hyuga girl quickly attacks the rope with a spare kunai and with a minute of sawing she slices through.

"Thanks!" Naruto says hoping up off the root and stretching. "I guess not all Hyugas are bad. Hey, what do you think we should do?"

"W-we should w-wait. They'll c-c-come and get us."

_Why are you still alive? Don't you know you're unwanted_'. The many haunting words echo in his head. "Yeah right," Naruto growls. "More likely the Konoha is throwing a parade or something." The blond haired boy's fist tightens furiously. No. He'll live. He'll become stronger, faster, tougher, the greatest ninja that has ever lived. Then, if they throw a parade, it'll be because of how awesome he is.

Letting out a sigh, Naruto glances over at Hinata who stares down at the ground twiddling her fingers. Suddenly the boy feels a bit guilty. "Sorry about that, I was just thinking aloud...," The boy pauses and then resumes the earlier conversation. "Yeah, I guess we should wait. The geezer at least will send somebody after us."

"O-okay."

Naruto nods resolutely. "Its a plan then. We wait till monkey man Hokage sends his crazy animal masks to pick us up. Until then we should spy on those bastards. That way they'll have to acknowledge that we're real ninja!"

-oOo-

"Okay, Pop, what have you got for me?" Ranma asks.

The pigtailed boy is lazily leaning against a tree and juggling five knives with his right hand. His father is shifting his glasses and fumbling with a scroll. Figuring the old man will take a while yet, Ranma glances over at the kids. There he sees the cute, dark-haired girl slicing away at the thick rope Genma had pulled from his ever bottomless pockets.

Catching a blade between forefinger and thumb, Ranma lets the remaining knives fall. Each lands with perfect precision, the blades slipping into the steel rings at the hilt. One after another they join together in a precarious tower.

Ranma doesn't offer his accomplishment so much as a glance. "Yeesh, how many knives do those kids have? I swear I'm going to have to have a talk with their parents. The blond brat's especially, throwing all those knives at me. That kid needs to learn some manners."

"I can think of more than one boy that needs to learn some manner," Genma grunts, shooting a glare at his son. "Besides I recall teaching you how to throw knives when you were half their age."

Ranma chuckles. "Yeah, well Pop, that's because you're insane."

"I'd have to be to put up with a child like you." Genma growls. "Now are you going to talk or train? Because I'm pretty certain you haven't finished that math of yours."

The pigtailed boy snorts. "Pop, I'm the one waiting on you, not the other way around."

Genma narrows his eyes on his son. "Very well then, boy. First up we have tree walking. They say here the technique is to gather your chakra in your feet-"

"And how is anyone supposed to do that?" Ranma cuts in. "What are they? Idiots?"

"Don't ask me, boy!" Genma snaps. "I didn't write the scroll. Now shut up and let me finish."

"Just to warn you, Pop, if it tells me I need to move my kidneys into my knees next, we're stopping there," Ranma snickers.

Ignoring his son's jibes Genma resumes. "The technique is to gather your chakra in your feet-"

_Snicker._

"- and proceed to climb the tree. For a start they suggest running up the tree at full speed and marking your-"

While his father talks, Ranma dashes at the nearby tree. With a single bound he shoots high into the air and well above the low laying branches. With a single kick off the tree's trunk he glides up to the swaying tip of the conifer. "Done!" Ranma shouts down. "Thanks, Pop, I'll treasure that 'tree walking' technique forever."

Below Genma shifts his glasses and crinkles the scroll in his hands. Then, all at once the old man rolls the up the parchment and flings the object far into the distance. "Okay, boy, perhaps that one was a waste of time."

With a small hop, Ranma drops back to the ground. "Yeah, Pop, of course it was. You getting senile already?"

Rather than answering his son, Genma instead unrolls a second scroll. "Lets see... 'water walking is an advanced technique and should only be attempted after learning tree wal-'"

"Wait there, Pop. This isn't going to be like that water walking technique you taught me when I was eleven. You know the one where you stand on things just under the surface of the water and make it _look_ like you're walking on water."

Instead of answering the bespectacled man shoves the scroll in front of Ranma's face. After the pigtailed boy's eyes adjust he sees a crudely drawn picture of a militant man standing in the middle of lake. Just below the picture is the title: _Water Walking_ and the small text beneath: _This scroll is the property of the Konoha public library._

"So you're basing this on a _picture_?" Ranma deadpans.

"Do you want to train, boy, or do math?"

Ranma taps a finger on his chin for a second. "So, Pop, you going to read it or what?"

"If you want to learn then don't interrupt your father, boy," Genma retorts before resuming his reading. "-should only be attempted after learning tree walking. To walk on water the practitioner must gather chakra at their feet and release it in a steady stream. A beginner should start with a large body of standing water as moving water is much more difficult."

Ranma manages to stifle his snicker this time, but he is still left scratching the back of his head. "Pop, that scroll is bogus. It's obvious from the way they keep talking about chakra that they don't know anything about the martial arts."

Genma however ignores his son and studies the scroll as though deep in thought.

"You're stupid!" The annoying blond haired brat yells jumping out of a bush. "You're the stupidest ninja I've ever met. When the animal masked bastards show up, they'll kick your asses."

Ranma strides up to the kid and gives him a sharp rap on the head. "Who's stupid. Besides, last time we tangled with those crazy masked guys it wasn't our asses getting kicked. You got that brat?"

Of course, Ranma amends mentally, he and Pop weren't exactly giving the masked fellows much of a chance to fight back either. Then again, if you can't catch someone running away and _make_ them fight, you can't be all that good.

Naruto rubs his head, and then sticks his tongue out at the pigtailed boy. "No way you beat them. You don't even know what chakra is!"

Ranma rolls his eyes. "You mean the seven energy nodes that permeate the human body? I'm no master of traditional chinese medicine, but I know a hell of a lot more than you do squirt."

"Energy nodes? There's no such thing," Naruto declares. "And e_veryone_ knows chakra is the combination of spiritual and physical energy."

The pigtailed boy smacks the brat on the head again. "Quiet brat, and stop spouting nonsense."

"Ano...," Hinata interrupts. "You are b-both right. There r-really are energy nodes, c-c-called chakra. B-but! N-naruto-k-kun is right too. Cha-chakra is also the c-c-combination of spiritual energy and ph-physical energy. Its j-just named after the p-place where the energies are combined."

"Ah!" Ranma nods. "So when they say 'chakra' they mean 'ki'."

"I told you you were stupid," Naruto grumbles while nursing the second welt on his head.

The pigtailed boy lifts a threatening hand, "You should shut up while your ahead brat. Its not my fault the people around here are too ignorant to use proper terminology."

Right then is when Genma's hand smacks Ranma in the back of his head.

"Quiet boy, If you'd used your head in the first place you could have figured out that they meant ki when they said chakra," growls the older man.

Ranma shifts a glare to his father. "Yeah, sure Pop. Pretend ya' knew it all along."

Genma grunts, and rolls up the scroll before returning it to his pack. "If you have the time to think about things like that, boy, you should be using a bit more brain power in figuring out how you're going to make your ki come out of your feet. We'll be trying out this technique on the next big body of water we see. Until then we'll have lunch."

Naruto perks up. "Oy! Oy! Are we going to have ramen?"

Ranma chuckles while shoveling through his pack. "Not while we have real food. Man, I've eaten more ramen than any man ought."

While he talks, the pigtailed boy pulls out a container of fruits, a hunk of roast beef, and a selection of cheese and crackers. All of the food is wrapped snuggly and with great care. If there is one thing Ranma can trust his old man with, it is making sure the traveling supplies are secure. The two Saotomes were in perfect agreement with the notion that food is king.

"_Real _food?" Naruto says incredulous. "How dare you insult ramen! Ramen is the food of the gods! Ramen can give the you strength of a hundred men! There are bowls of ramen that can grow back hair, or let you digest any poison. The fourth Hokage ate ramen before killing the legendary nine-tails and saving all of Konoha. Ramen is the best food ever, and all the greatest heroes eat ramen!"

Ranma shakes his head and reaches into his pack. Pulling out one of many Cup Noodles the pigtailed boy hands the package of ramen to an eager blond haired boy. "Have your _food of the gods _then, I'll stick with the good stuff while we have it."

"Hrm," Genma grunts, settling in next to the kids.

Silently the bespectacled man snaps few branches and tosses them in a pile. He then rubs two thick sticks together in a blur of motion. With only a couple of seconds of effort they are both smoking. From there the older man expertly nurses a fire from the burning wood. Setting a small metal cup of water in the flames, Genma speaks. "Now, brat. What was this about growing hair?"

Ranma winces and does it best to ignore his father. Naruto however, quickly launches into a story about a crazy not-very-ninja-like ninja, a dragon, the dragon's whiskers, and a magical bowl of ramen that'll give any man back his hair.

-oOo-

Kakashi smiles brightly. "I think we can safely say we are on their trail," the Silver haired ninja says.

The dead giveaway is the three meter long buffet table still covered in scattered silverware and dirty dishes. Bones and scraps are all that is left on the once fabulous feast set out by the Hyuga. The rest has been stolen or devoured.

Kakashi watches Hiashi carefully as the Hyuga head picks up the small note left behind and then crumbles it in his hand. The man's stoic visage hides his anger, but Kakashi's easily picks up the micro ticks on his face that betray the man's stress. Hiashi shifts slightly, glancing at the three ANBU that came as support.

Kakashi walks closer, and leans against the buffet table. His lone uncovered eye carefully watches the other man. "It must be difficult, being a father," the silver haired jounin observes. "Lots of choices to make, and you never know how they'll turn out in the end. Personally, I'm not sure if I could handle that kind of responsibility."

With a thud, Hiashi sets a heavy hand on the table. "Is that why you refuse to take a genin team?" He asks.

The silver haired ninja smiles, but does not answer. "I sent a message to the ANBU squad that was on their trail since yesterday. By now they'll have broken off pursuit in favor of reinforcing the border near lighting. I trust that you won't have any problems with that?"

Hiashi is silent for a moment, but his brow tightens just the tiniest bit. "We do what we have to do," He answers finally. His eyes shift to the silver haired ninja for a moment longer, then the Hyuga head walks off.

Kakashi watches the man vanish into the trees and observes the lion masked ANBU shadowing him from the tree tops. Ah, fatherhood really must be so difficult. Difficult enough to-

The thought is cut off when a tanto is shoved into Kakahi's neck. The silver haired jounin's uncovered eye widens in surprise as it locks onto the squirrel masked ninja behind him. Then he dissolves into electricity.

At once the squirrel ANBU flashes his face left, right, and then up. Just as his mask turns downward he is sucked into the ground. Then, before any additional reaction is possible, a glowing hand slices into the back of his neck.

Kakashi rips his hand free tearing out the cervical vertebrae in the process. The silver haired ninja then makes a pair of quick leaps, the first carrying him free of the earth, the second carrying him past a quartet of shuriken. A second swarm of throwing stars is evaded by a quick switching technique with the nearby buffet table.

Kakashi whirling red eyes falls upon the possum masked ANBU.

"Shall I presume Danzo's Root? Or merely an opportunist?" Kakashi asks with a false smile. He isn't in the least surprised when he gets no answer.

-oOo-

Flip catch. Flip catch. Flip flip catch catch.

"Yeah like that," Ranma says as he walks backwards.

The pigtailed boy has a dozen random objects fountaining up, flying and spiraling all around him. Quick hands, feet and dynamic movements catch them as they fall and send them flying high into the air once again.

Not far back, Naruto is fumbling a pair of bare branches. He tosses one up and then the other, and tries to catch the falling sticks in opposite hands. He is successful for three tosses, but then the stick collide in mid air and are sent flying in opposite directions. As the blond boy bends down and picks them up once more he sends Ranma a dirty look. The pigtailed boy answers with a smirk, and throws his own branches high into the air where they collide and spin about themselves. A deft hand catches the twirling triplet and Ranma begins to whirl them about one another like batons. All the while he continues to keep the flying rocks from touching the ground.

"Think fast, Pop," Ranma shouts. At once the boy throws his sticks at his father. A bare second later and the rocks follow behind.

"I was reading, boy!" Genma yells back.

Despite having held scrolls in both hands, the bespectacled man returns all the improvised weapons with a series of flips, kicks, and fancy maneuvers. The two promptly break out into a fight of thrown weapons that holds more an air of artistry than that of violence.

While the two Saotome's attempt to bash out each others brains out with a series of ridiculously complex attacks, Naruto flounders with his own sticks once again. For a moment, he wears a petulant expression. The Naruto flashes a smile at the Hyuga girl.

"Hey, Hinata. You wanna give it a try?"

Hinata smiles slightly, but shakes her head.

"Ah, come on! Its actually kind of fun."

The Hyuga girl peers up briefly meeting the blond boy's blue eyes, but her eyes shift away quickly. She presses her forefingers together for a few moments before speaking. "I- I will give it a t-try."

Shyly, Hinata reaches out and takes the two sticks from Naruto.

"Okay! Its best to start trying to just toss and catch the stick with the same hand. Until you can do it with both hands its pretty hard. Once you get that much, you gotta toss one up after the other and then catch them in the opposite hands," Naruto explains, intent on passing his non-existent mastery to the girl.

Hinata nods and tosses the stick in her right hand up, and then catches it. Feeling a bit more confident she tosses the stick in her left hand into the air...

Rustle. Flash. A movement in the bushes catches her eye. A hand bursts free flinging half a dozen kunai through the air. Hinata begins to gasp, and her stick bounces off her left hand. Naruto! The kunai are flying at Naruto! The girl reaches out, desperate to pull the boy out of the way. But, she is far too late.

Whoomp! Thunk! T-t-ting. Rocks and branches blur past her vision, blasting away the flying knives. A stray blade still manages to slice across Naruto's leg leaving a large and reddening gash in his orange jumpsuit. A second cracks hilt first against his head after spinning out of control due to the flying debris. Almost instantly, the pigtailed boy appears in front of them, followed shortly by the older bespectacled man who has abandoned his scrolls.

"Pop," Ranma hisses to his father. "That one's mine. You take care of the kids." The pigtailed boy's eyes remain fixed on the lion masked man who threw the knives.

Genma nods and adjusts his glasses. "Do as you wish, boy, but keep your head clear."

Ranma flashes back a smirk, that is more intense than usual. His bright blue eyes burn with violent energy. "Who do you think I am?" he asks, but before his father can answer he dashes out into the woods, chasing after a masked figure which flees his approach.

Genma grunts. "Girl, bind the brat's leg."

"You will do no such thing, Hinata. Step away from that... child," A deep new voice interrupts.

Stepping out from the trees is a grim faced man in dark gray robes trimmed with white. His eyes, like those of Hinata, lack any pupil. The veins around his eyes stand out clearly, and he doesn't bother to so much as glance Genma's direction.

"F-father!" Hinata gasps.

With unthinking obedience, Hinata begins to move as ordered by her father, Hiashi Hyuga. But, in mid movement, she suddenly stops, frozen, as she glances between Hiashi and the blond boy who lays dazed at her feet. Fear, confusion, and defiance war upon her face before settling on resolve. Strength fills Hinata's lavender eyes and she stoops down next to Naruto, imposing her body between the boy and her father.

"I won't!" Hinata declares, lifting her eyes to meet her father's hardened gaze.

Hiashi's features are as paster of a long while, then his visage darkens. "You will do as I say, daughter."

The girl's strength cracks and her gaze shift to the ground. She quivers and tries to raise them once more but the skitter to the side upon seeing her father's stern face. "I w-w-won't l-let you k-k-k-kill Naruto."

"This is the will of Konoha!" Hiashi booms, "For you the good of people and the Hyuga that boy must die. Now _step aside!_ Or I will be forced to make you move."

A dirty dogi, broad shoulders, and a bandanna covered head impose themselves between daughter and father. "I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to leave," Genma says shoving his glasses up his nose.

For the first time Hiashi's eyes move to the bespectacled man who now stands between father and daughter. "Leave, outsider. My daughter is unharmed so I shall let you live. However, should you interfere further, I will kill you."

Genma regards the man before him. "Do you think I would hand child to any man that threatens to take the life of another?" Genma snorts, "There is no father on this Earth that would do such a thing. How shameful to even suggest such a thing. Shameful!" Genma cries out while he tilting his head toward the sky. He spreads his arms wide as though beseeching the gods. " Oh, how can there be such a father in this world? The heavens themselves must weep."

Genma's eyes snap back to Hiashi. "I see that I must teach you the true depth of fatherly love. Prepare yourself!"

Hiashi gives the man a look of disgust, "A worthless thief with neither name nor honor speaks of shame? Such an insult the Hyuga honor is unforgivable. My hand can no longer be stayed, your life is forfeit." Hiashi spreads his legs into a side stand, and raises his hands open palmed. "Hinata, I forbid you to turn your eye. It is time you see what it means to be Hyuga."

Genma gives a derisive snort and promptly flashes forward with three quick steps. A blurring kick lances past Hiashi's head, and the Hyuga immediately counters with an open palm strike aimed at the bespectacled man's abdomen. He misses. Genma arcs over his foe as kick becomes aerial leap. Performing a somersault the large man flips over Hinata's father while at the same time slipping a hand underneath the man's chin.

Hiashi looks upon the attack with disdain, and slaps the arm away while shoving his chakra into the Genma's tenketsu, but that Hyuga's arrogance is short lived. As Genma comes back to the earth his left food lands firmly at the back joint of his foe's knee, causing Hiashi to collapse forward. For a fractional second the the Hyuga head finds himself with no knowledge of what he should do, and that is all the time it takes for a kick to send him rolling head over heels before sprawling on the ground meters away.

Genma wiggles his left arm experimentally. The numb limb swings limply about the elbow joint. There is only a brief pause of consideration before the bespectacled man is forcefully tapping points along its length. By the time Hiashi pulls himself to his feet, has his left fist clenched in a fist.

"Honor," Genma begins, rolling his left shoulder a few times. "To hide from your shame with that shield of righteousness show that you have no honor at all." As he speaks Genma removes his belt and shrugs off his dogi.

Hiashi ignores his opponent's words, instead focusing on the bespectacled man's left arm. "So you know medical jutsu. Then when we next engage, I will refuse you the chance to recover."

"Hmph. You aren't the first shiatsu master I have faced." Genma retorts. He makes a sharp movement with his hand and suddenly the belt is as straight as a sword. A second jerk causes the dogi to harden into an improvised shield.

Hiashi pauses a moment to contemplate his attack. He can easily see the chakra that flows through material and is able to garner some understanding of the cloth's sudden rigidity. An easily defeated technique. Prepared, Hiashi springs forward, closing the distance in an instant. His opponent shows clear surprise at the Hyuga's speed, but is still able to strike with the belt-sword.

Hiashi contemptuously catches the cloth blade with an open palm. His chakra meets that of his opponents and the cloth's steel-like strength vanishes. Not allowing the bespectacled man a chance to discover his failure Hiashi makes a second strike with his free hand plowing straight into the shield. Like the belt the dogi crumbles offering no resistance at all. With the armor defeated his fingers thrust forward until they reach Genma's side. Then, the Hyuga releases a pulse of chakra that will destroy his opponent's kidney.

At the last moment Hiashi sees Genma's snide smile. The chakra fails to penetrate. The thickness of the cloth and the latent energy defeat his technique. He is overextended.

And Genma wastes no time taking advantage of that fact. The bespectacled man shoves his cloth covered arm forward with all his strength. His hand plunges into the Hyuga's stomach and propels the man high into the air. Flying inelegantly, Hiashi fights to find his balance so that he can land feet first. That's when he feels a sharp tug on his arm. The belt he deflected earlier has wrapped around his wrist.

Below, Genma yanks hard on his belt imparting momentum to his foe. Hiashi is torn through the air and then released. The Hyuga tumbles through the air before crashing into a tree. The wood creaks the the force of the blow but does not yield.

Hiashi dizzily restores himself to his feet and then dives into an improvised roll. Whoosh! C-c-c-c-crack! Bang! The belt windmills overhead and slices through trees like butter. Overhead branches crack and shatter as the great plants slide to the side and then crash to the ground. Hiashi rises once more reaching back to catch the spinning cloth before it can boomerang back to its master.

Genma grunts and sedately walks toward his opponent. As the bespectacled man strides forward he tears his dogi down the center. Then his aura to flows into the cloth where upon it twists and hardens into a pair of hammers. He settles both on his shoulders and then makes a show of stretching his muscles.

Hiashi's brow tightens. "You make little of your opponent. Do you seek to hasten your death?"

"Fierce words from a man too fearful to step forward," Genma observes.

"Do you think victory is in your grasp?" Hiashi growls allowing his cold mask to slip. "It will take me only a single blow to turn the tables."

Genma's look of derision proves to be to much, and Hiashi throws himself forward once more. Again, the bespectacled man snaps out an attack as the Hyuga draws near. This time Hiashi shifts his head just out of range so that the attack will pass bare inches from his face.

A mistake, he realizes, when the shirt unwinds into a longer cloth blade. With milliseconds to spare Hiashi swats the weapon to the side the cloth's hardness once again vanishing at the moment of his touch. His momentum, however, has been lost. No longer moving forward he is forced to dodge backward and then throw up both arms to block a powerful hammer strike.

The unbroken impact of the iron cloth slams into Hiashi for the first time and he is driven to his knees. The bones in both arms feel as though they will snap in two, but somehow he is able to halt the strike before it reaches his head. Then, all at once, the fabric folds. Before it can gain a grip the Hyuga throws himself back, untangling his arms from the weapon.

Genma follows in his opponents wake. He thrusts forward with both hammers and then sweeps aside his opponent's flimsy defense. Before Hiashi can even realize what has happened, the bespectacled man delivers a crushing front kick up and into the Hyuga's diaphragm.

The powerful blow drives the breath from Hiashi's lungs and throws him into the air once more. He lands on his feet for once, but with black spots rippling through his vision and dizziness assaulting him, he stumbles back. The Hyuga takes a moment to be thankful that his opponent is avoiding extended confrontations and takes the chance to scurry around a tree. Pride be damned.

Breath. Breath. Hiashi finds his footing and his opponent.

Snap! Snap! Genma stands in a tall tree casually shattering branches with his bare hands. With a knife strike the bespectacled martial artist strips off the small sticks and twigs and sharpens the wood into thick spears. "All battles can be won or lost with a single blow. A strike the back of the head, a blow to the throat, a knife in the heart," Genma converses from above. "What marks the strength of any martial artist is the power to win in a single strike. Instead, it is the ability to make an opening for that blow, or to deny ones opponent a moment of weakness. This is the most basic premise of warfare."

A sweep of the bespectacled man's arm sends forth a rain of twigs. Each glows with potent energy. Hiashi responds by twisting into a spin while releasing whirling chakra all around him. A glowing sphere surrounds him and blows away the improvised projectiles.

The next attack though, forces the Hyuga to halt his motion. One of the thick woods spears is flying at him at high velocity. His positions his hands to knock the attack aside. Wait. A shadow throwing technique. Just behind the first spear is a second so expertly hidden that even Hiashi's eyes almost miss it. He abandons the block and throws himself to the side. Half off balances the Hyuga notes a third spear flying wide, he ignores it in favor of the bespectacled man who is now flying in from above.

T-thunk! The last wooden spear reverberates as it ricochets off a nearby tree and streaks toward the Hyuga with deadly accuracy. Already fighting to restore his footing Hiashi is forced to twist and smash the spear aside with an open palm blow. At the same time he makes a desperate strike with his other hand aimed at his opponent's head.

Genma casually catches Hiashi's hand with his own and then squeezes all the fingers tight together. A low side kick flashes out and catches the Hyuga's leg near the knee. It bends to the side as the joint slides from the socket before slurping itself back into position. The leg though has no remaining strength and Hiashi collapses to the ground.

The Hyuga makes one last pathetic attack, reaching out a hand to tag the bespectacled man on the leg. Genma stomps on the arm, hard.

Stooping down next to his opponent, Genma takes the time to adjust his glasses once more. "Now, let's talk about fatherhood."

-oOo-

F-flash! Two kunai streak from the brush and Ranma snatches them out of the air without looking. The pigtailed boy swirls the knives around a finger while glancing through the trees. "You know, unless you've got more knives than Fort Knox has gold, you're just wasting your time."

Only the silence of the surrounding forest answers. Ranma suddenly smirks, but makes no other movement.

Shwing! Dark steel flash by the pigtailed boy's cheek as he leans his head to the side and drops his shoulder. The short bladed sword slices across his dogi, but the skin beneath is untouched. The pigtailed boy shifts his weight back slightly and then instantly shifts all the gathered force into a sudden elbow strike that smashes into the ninja's face. While his opponent is reeling Ranma blurs into a spin and smashes his opponent with a horrendous roundhouse.

Instead of the flesh the kick meets splashes through dissolving mud. As the dark wet earth splatters on Ranma and the nearby tree's the pigtailed boy frowns to himself. Okay that's pretty weird. So the ninja can make crazy mud people. Kinda cool actually.

Just be to careful Ranma hops back slightly so he can regain better footing. However there is not counter attack. The sneaky bastard is just trying to slip by. There! With a snap of his wrist the two kunai shoot out into the woods. Immediately, a darkly dressed man with a lion mask flips to the ground.

"Compared to Pop, you're as sneaky as a tank," Ranma comments. He makes a show of smack a fist into his open palm. "Normally, I'd try to drag this out and see how you did that cool mud-whachama-call-it-thingy and maybe see what other neat trick you have while we're at it. But you kinda put me in a bad mood back there throwing knives at the kid and all. So we'll just skip straight to the part where I break you in half."

Ranma flashes the ninja a dangerous smirk. Lion Mask however doesn't so much as say a word. Instead the fellow takes the chance to start running again. How annoying.

Dashing after his opponent Ranma takes the chance to kick a rock at the running ninja's legs. Lion Mask jumps up and over the attack but loses most of his speed. Good enough, Ranma thinks. Apparently Lion mask agrees too, because he slows his run and takes a chance to fire back with some shuriken.

Ranma chuckles to himself his opponent probably thicks weapons with points on all sides will be harder to catch. Not that it matters, he isn't going to bother with that this time. Instead, the pigtailed boy flips over them and then undulates through a second wave of projectiles before delivering a powerful ax kick to Lion Mask's head.

Crunch! Splinters rain down in every direction as the log left in the ninja's place explodes. Ranma pauses for a moment then glances to his right. Several meters away the lion masked ANBU flashes his hands into a tiger seal and draws a deep breath.

"Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu!"

The ninja emits a stream of fire from the 'mouth' of his mask. The flames stretch out before mushrooming into a continuous fireball. The bright reddish-orange light obscures the pigtailed boy from sight.

That's when a foot slams into Lion Mask's gut.

"So you _can_ talk, and I've gotta say that makes three really cool tricks you've pulled so far," Ranma says conversationally while he shoves his Lion Mask's mask which cracks under the force. "But, you know, if you've got to say all that before breathing the fire you really need to make sure your opponent can't dodge. That's pretty basic principle if you ask me."

As he talks, Ranma leans to the side to avoid a tanto thrusts and then sways back and away from a wide swing. The pigtailed boy snaps a quick kick under the ninja's chin. Lion Mask manages to flip away from the attack, but the pigtailed boy is more than satisfied when the cracked mask is blown away all together.

Ranma smirks at the boyish face that greets him. He was kind of expecting someone that looked a bit more psycho killer, and is sadly disappointed. Instead his opponent is a kid. Well not a really kid. Lion Mask appears older than Ranma, but clearly less than twenty.

That and Lion Mask looks rather unhappy.

Ranma stops suddenly. "Tell you what. I'll give you a free shot if you show me something cool."

The boyish ninja backs off but pauses. He brings his hands together and cautiously makes a few distinct motions. They are slow at first, but Lion Mask picks up speed.

The pigtailed boy taps his foot impatiently after the ninja flips through several dozens seals. "Yeesh. How long is this going to take, cause I don't have all day."

"Katon: Hiryuka no Jutsu."

When the words leave the ninja's lips he suddenly convulses. Then Lion Masks leans over and vomits fire. Coil after coil of thick serpentine flame pours from the ninja's mouth and slithers through the air. Finally, the tail whips free and the dragonic figure roars before flying forward.

Ranma rolls his eyes and flips over the attack. He's about to give his trademark smirk when the serpent twists in midair and pursues the pigtailed boy. Annoyed, Ranma rolls under the dragons coils before flipping up and over the trailing tail. He glares at the creatures as it makes a wide circle around him...

... a circle that suddenly grows very bright. Crap.

Whoomp! A huge explosion of fire swallows up one large gulp of oxygen before reaching upward in a great column of fire. Flames roar for seconds while all the trees crackle and burn. Cautiously the previously lion masked ANBU palms a trio of shuriken... just in case.

It turns out to be a good idea.

"Okay. I'll admit. That was really stupid of me," Ranma says as he drop down from the trees.

The pigtailed boy's hair is singed and frayed. His dogi is scorched with black spots and sports an occasional hole. There is even a small fire that still burns up the right pant leg, which Ranma stomps out with his left foot. Beyond that his skin is a bit redder as though he'd been sun burned.

Lion Mask immediately throws his three shuriken, which Ranma dodges by stepping slightly to the side. The attack is followed up by a horizontal slash by the tanto, which the pigtailed boy defeats with a fast circular kick that sends the weapon flying. Deciding not to waste anymore time, Ranma steps in close and stomps on his opponents foot while hammering an elbow into Lion Mask's stomach. Continuing the motion Ranma delivers a weak back hand with the same arm. Then when the ninja tries to step back, only to be stopped by the foot still bearing Ranma weight, the pigtailed boy slams his other fist into the young man's face.

Ranma briefly considers not finishing with a powerful kick when he realizes that Lion Mask is completely unconscious, but, what the hell. Delivering the final roundhouse Ranma sends the ninja flying and then tumbling across the ground. The pigtailed boy takes a moment to dust his hands before considering what to do next.

"I guess I should see how the old man is doing," Ranma says thoughtfully.

Grabbing one of the ninja's legs Ranma begins to drag his enemy behind him, ignoring the nasty thud-thud sounds of the Lion Mask's head bouncing off roots and rocks.

-oOo-

"- and when I looked down upon my boy I felt a welling of pride blossoming in my heart. A great wonderment of love. It was at that moment I knew the truth of fatherhood! The great responsibility of shaping a child's life and the incredible joy when they surpass your wildest imagination. The power of that moment is great enough cleanse all wickedness from the darkest heart."

Genma cries thick tears which roll down his cheeks and dribble onto the ground. Wrapped in his moment of passion the bespectacled man stares lovingly at a yellowed sheet of paper. Then he carefully folds it up and stows it in his bandanna. After allows seconds of silence Genma pulls out a trio of photographs.

"Look," Genma sniffs. "Look! Is your fatherly soul moved? Do you now feel the power of love expl-"

Genma's captive audience, Hiashi Hyuga, has little choice but to look and listen. The grim faced man's limbs have been twisted in ways that ought to be impossible. Yet, there he remains, a human basket with woven arms serving as the handle. Worse, he has been hung on a nearby tree, his unmovable arms unable to untwine themselves so that he may drop to the ground. Nevertheless, Hiashi bears his humiliation well.

Hinata however, is mortified. The young girl does her very best not to meet her father's eye, much less look in his general direction. Instead, she purposefully focuses her eyes on the ground hiding her red face from everyone.

"Hey! Hey!" Naruto calls out unabashedly. "I got an idea! You shoul-"

"Pop, what the hell are you doing?" an incredulous Ranma interrupts. The pigtailed boy strolls from the woods dragging his own opponent behind him.

"Quiet, boy! I'm teaching this man how to be a good father," Genma growls back.

Ranma raises an eyebrow and then shakes his head. Ignoring his father for a moment, the pigtailed boy looks up at the hanging Hyuga. After staring with thought for some time he nods to himself.

"Pop, of all -" Crack! "- the people in -" Snap! "- the world _you -_" Pop! "- shouldn't be the one giving that -" Crunch! "- speech."

Glancing between Lion Mask and Hiashi, Ranma admires his handiwork. Perhaps he isn't _quite_ as elegant as his father, but the pigtailed boy has managed to create his human basket. He frowns suddenly, the left hand shouldn't be hanging out like that. Ranma shoves the wrist back where it belongs and shrugs off the resultant sprain. One things for sure, Lion Mask isn't chucking knives at kids with that hand for a month. Now satisfied, Ranma dangles his newly woven basket from a nearby tree.

"So, we leaving or what?" Ranma asks as he walks to the children. "And what are you showing that man anyway?"

Genma strikes a sudden pose, and at once tears roll freely from his eyes. "Boy, I was sharing my precious fatherhood memories. Take a look for yourself. Tell me that you can gaze upon these pictures and not feel the call to be a parent?"

Genma shoves three pictures into Ranma's face, two of which are obscured by the first. The small square photograph reveals a little child, no older than five, looking up at the camera with big wide eyes which shimmer with tears. Behind him the child drags a blanket.... A wet blanket. The child's pajama's are also wet. It doesn't take Ranma much longer to jump to the necessary conclusion.

"Pop," Ranma hisses, his hands clenching in trembling fists. "I'm going to kill you."

The pigtailed boy's first attack strikes for the pictures, but Genma quickly draws them out of range. From there the pursuit is on as a raging Ranma does his best to defeat his fleeing father.

As the Saotomes dash back and forth through the woods swinging and striking at each other, Hinata nervously approaches her father.

"A... f- I-" Hinata bravely tries to look up at her father's face, but she quickly turns away. "I- I'm sorry!"

Once the words escape her lips, Hinata bows quickly and dashes away.

"Hey!" Naruto calls out. He glares long and hard at the basket human Hyuga. "If you are ever mean to Hinata again I'll kick your ass. Believe it!"

Then the boy hobbles away shouting, "Hey! Wait for me!"

-oOo-

"Well, its good to see that you're still hanging around."

Hiashi closes his eyes and lets out a sigh. "So you still live, Kakashi. I suppose that makes me a traitor as well."

The silver haired ninja drops down from the branches high above and lands softly on the earth below. He glances back at Hiashi, a dark silhouette in the setting sun. "Is the boy alive?"

"It..., Naruto, is alive." There is silence while Hiashi gathers his thoughts. "Will you allow me the honor of seppeku?"

Kakashi's lone eye borrows deep into the those of the Hyuga for a long time. Then the silver haired ninja's smile returns and masks true feelings. "If you did that, who would escort the prisoner?"

"Ha," Hiashi laughs grimly. "You offer too much. What I have done cannot be taken back. We both know that."

Kakashi's eye hardens. "We have all done things that cannot be taken back, Hiashi. But sins cannot be cleansed with blood. For that there is duty."

Hiashi closes his eyes and bows his head. "From the mouth of a fool comes truth," the man says to himself. "So be it. I will cleanse my honor with duty, even if shame stains me forever." Hiashi reopens his eyes and locks his gaze onto the silver haired ninja. "Though I have no right to ask anything of you, please bring my daughter back."

Kakashi smiles once more, and for once Hiashi believe it might even be real.

"Of course," Kakashi says. "As soon as I... uh, figure out how to... hmm... 'untie you'?"

-oOo-

_Naruto vs Ranma 1/2 II -- Combat Ability_

_On any examination of two subsets of combatants, the question is immediately begged how strong are they? In the case of Ranma and Genma it is first necessary to grasp that our perspective on the Naruto world combat abilities is highly distorted. That is virtually all the characters that are dealt with are the 'strongest' in their category. For instance Kakashi is far more powerful than the typical jonin and the combatant members of the 'rookie nine' are much more powerful than typical genin. Indeed, several of the 'rookie nine' are able to defeat the 'sound four' -- who have jonin, or near jonin power -- not long into their ninja career._

_As such, as early as the the chunin exam, individuals like Kiba were likely fighting at least chunin combat levels – though not with chunin level tactics. Now, it is tempting to ask: How would Ranma fare against any of them? But, since it is quite difficult to imagine Ranma losing to anyone but Rock Lee with his gates open – potentially a high jonin or low S classed opponent -- a much better question is: How would **Shampoo** fair? Against early chunin exam Kiba that is. _

_That seems surprisingly easy to answer. Its simple to imagine Miss 'I can shampoo your hair while hitting shiatsu spots faster than you can react' (to Akane no less, who could smack down early Sakura without breaking a sweat) putting up a good show. More than likely, she'd beat the stuffing out of poor Kiba. More powerful opponents like Neji would likely win, but even he'd have a good challenge._

_Now, recall that Ranma not only beats Shampoo twice, but is so skilled that he is able to avoid her many assassination attempts without feeling any real need to fight back. Before you dismiss how strong you have to be to ignore assassination attempts, imagine giving a kitchen knife to a five year old, hand him some candy every time he tries to kill you, and limit your defense to evasion. Consider how long you'd last. Chances are, despite being able to normally defeat a five year old without any challenge, you'd end up quite dead by the end of the week._

_In other words, Ranma can handle Shampoo about as well as Kakashi can handle early Sasuke. She's strong enough to make him react, but the possibility of real victory doesn't exist._

_Taking that into consideration Ranma, and therefore Genma, is definitely a match for an elite jounin, and quite possibly **some** S classed opponents. This is, of course, ignoring competing specialties, tactics, etc... _

_**Techniques**_

_I make no promises any of these translations are accurate. They were obtained by cursory examination and evaluation of words (and occasional Kanji) in a Japanese dictionary. I do not speak or read Japanese, and will not pretend that I can._

_**Katon: Hiryuka no Jutsu**__[lit. Fire Release: Flying Dragon Technique] – As opposed to Sasuke's Katon: Ryuka no Jutsu which sends fire along wires to the target, this actually creates a dragon shaped fire chakra 'creature' that chases down the enemy by itself. Once it hits, it explodes into a large fireball._

_**Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu**__[CANON] – The user breathes out a large fireball. Sasuke uses this on Kakashi in early canon. Many Konoha ninja know it. (It IS Fire Country after all!) _

_**Hakkesho Kaiten **[CANON] – Shorted to 'Kaiten' for usage here. The user rotates while releasing chakra to repel projectiles. It isn't invincible and isn't very effectively against massive/powerful projectile attacks. Used by many Hyuga._

_**Tenketsu** [CANNON] – The points on the body where chakra is released from. They also exactly correspond with what Genma/Ranma would call Tsubo, pressure points._


	3. Wanderers

**Author's Warning – **_As always this story is primarily a 'romp'. That means the purpose of this story is for the main character(s) to run around, fight random opponents, gain powers, with no clear agenda, purpose or overall objective. This story is **not** likely to have an advanced or complex plotline._

_Next, I will make no promises this story will ever be completed, continued, or have something resembling a satisfactory ending. It will stop when I'm tired of writing it, be it after one chapter, or after one-hundred. Also, the span of time between each chapter release is, as you might have guessed, random._

**Chapter 3**

Wanderers

-oOo-

Ranma wears a grin while swaying around a thrown knife. Three dancing steps and a jump there after carry the pigtailed boy sailing over a large salivating mutt that pounces into Ranma's after image. With an arrogant spin, Ranma turns his back on his opponents and faces his father.

"So, Pop? You going to lend a hand?"

Genma sits a dozen paces from his son, perched on the back of an unfortunate ninja. The older Saotome merely grunts in answer, while Genma hands busily make their way through the squashed ninja's pouches. The quest for valuable goods ends only briefly as Genma takes a voracious bite from the poor kid's rations.

"Boy, if you need my help I haven't trained you well enough."

Ranma chuckles and ducks under the sickle end of a kusarigama. With twirling steps Ranma flashes up to his opponent even as the steel chain still slides over his head. With an almost lazily motion Ranma rises to his feet while transferring his momentum with a brutal shove. The motion sends the young ninja stumbling back only to be bowled over half-a-second later by a dog-human cyclone.

The ninja squad had ambushed the Saotomes only a short while earlier. One minute Genma and Ranma had been meandering their way through the forest and the next a bunch of high-schoolers were trying to kill them. Not a shocker or anything. Ranma cannot count the number of strangers with barely remembered faces that had popped up out of nowhere and attempted to remove his head from his neck. Thought, Ranma admits, it is far more amusing when it is Genma dodging deadly weapons.

The rush of combat, however, is a close second.

Four ninja and their big bad dog had launched the attack. Three boys, one crushed under his father's weight, and two more piled upon the ground in a tangle of limbs. The last is a girl wearing a flak jacket who has hung back and taken cautious, measured shots since the fighting had started. At first the ninjas had gone for the kids, but after being quickly crushed by the Saotome combination the remaining three had settled for defeating the pigtailed boy.

A good strategy truthfully. If the enemy is going to let you fight them one at a time then you may as well take advantage of it. Not that it'll do them any good, Ranma thinks with a smirk. He alone is too much for them.

Watching the two boy-ninjas and their dog trying to untangle themselves, Ranma keeps the still standing girl in his peripheral vision. The female ninja snaps a pair of knives at the pigtailed boy and Ranma decides to reward the girl's concern for her friends by taking a small hop back.

Ka-boom!

A sudden explosion rattles the air and leaves Ranma's ears ringing. The pigtailed boy spares a backward glance. Little scraps of paper flutter in the air falling like confetti. In the middle of the explosion is Genma, blackened and charred, with the remains of a small tag between finger and thumb. The large bald man cocks his bandanna covered head to the side, while picking at an ear with his free hand.

Ranma snickers at the sight. "You alright over there, Pop?"

Genma pulls his glasses back into position and lets out a gruff grunt. Ignoring his son, Genma places a heavy hand around the side of his ninja seat's neck. After a second, Genma grunts again, indicating that his is still alive. "It isn't me you should be worrying about, boy." the old man grumbles softly.

Rolling his eyes, Ranma executes a back-flip over the sickle slashing through his afterimage. He rolls through air before landing upon the kusarigama wielder's head. While Ranma's perch wobbles under the new weight Ranma hand streaks down and tugs lightly on the steel-linked chain. Grinning, Ranma watches the attached sickle's trajectory makes a sharp change in direction, flashing past the boy-dog pair and forcing them to scramble back.

"Magen: igamu bijon."

Ranma head snaps to his left as the first word leaves the female-ninja's mouth. Her hands are still poised in the final seal when Ranma's vision bursts into a cascade of dazzling colors. Trios of trees fracture into dozens of images. Greens melt into the blues of the sky blending to create an ugly yellow. All around Ranma the world wavers, as ground and sky whirl about each other until up is down and down is up.

Dizziness wars with Ranma's balance, and suddenly the pigtailed boy finds himself falling. A quick somersault salvages his landing, and a drunken stumble carries Ranma just barely out of reach of the dog-human hurricane. Speckles of blood fly from Ranma cheek when inhuman claws come a touch too close.

Still, none of this stops Ranma from snatching the kusarigama out of the air. Ranma smirks, imagining his opponent's surprise. Then arrogantly, the boy simply closes his eyes.

The rush of air warns Ranma of the knives the perforate the space he occupied just an instant before. The snapping of cloth is all he needs to sidestep the boy-dog whirlwind. The sickle-ninja makes a fatal mistake, he tries to pull the thrown weapon out of Ranma's hands.

Ranma pulls back, ten times harder.

All at once the steel-chain goes slack as the sickle wielding ninja finds himself flying at his blinded opponent. Ranma steps forward and spins into a vicious back-kick the drives all the air from his opponent's lungs. The sickle wielder collapses hard on the ground, clearly out for the count.

Grasping the kusarigama's chain, Ranma tears the weight from the sickle wielder's hands while dropping to the ground in an elegant rolls. While Ranma spins amongst the twigs and leaves he casts the weighted end of the chain up high, where it snags the boy-dog pair as their spinning strike passes above him. The chain quickly becomes a tangled snarl of iron links that pulls Ranma back up and onto his feet.

Ranma grins and stops his forward momentum and then, with a great heave, forces his captured opponent's into a slow circle. Whoomph! Whoomph! Whoomph! The air thuds deeply as the captured boy and dog go round and round faster and faster.

"Here, catch," Ranma says jovially.

"Aaaaa-" Thud! A pity he can not see the look on the ninja-girl's face as her two companions 'rush' into her embrace. Opening his eyes once more Ranma begins to try to blink away the crazy vision he has been afflicted with. When that doesn't work he smacks himself in the head once, twice, and then thrice before shaking himself free of the technique.

"Hey, Pop," Ranma calls out as he meanders toward his father. He makes a thumbing motion over his shoulder. "We've got three more contributors to the 'Martial Arts Traveling Fund.'"

Genma grunts once and quickly hogties his seat. Standing, the older Saotome turns his gaze to his son. "I'll deal with them, boy. You watch the kids."

"Gotcha, Pop."

Ranma gives his father a sloppy wave while nonchalantly walking up to the two children. Ranma hardly makes it five steps before a small blond boy bounces from his boulder and crowds up next to the pigtailed boy.

"Oi, oi! That was awesome! Hey, teach us something cool!" To emphasize his point, Naruto bounds left and right while making energetic strikes at the air.

Ranma laughs lightly, and pats the blond on the head. "Tell you what, I just might show you a thing or two next time we stop."

"Awww... Come on!" Naruto whines. "Teach us something now!"

"I don't hear an _us_ asking," Ranma notes.

"Hey," Naruto shouts. "Hinata wants to be a ninja too. She's just too quiet to ask."

"Is that so," Ranma says, he peers down at the quiet black haired girl. "So you really want to learn stuff, or is the brat just trying to strong arm you into playing 'ninja'?"

"I w-would be honored," Hinata says softly. "But, I don't know what my f-father would say."

"Who cares what that bastard says!" Naruto snaps.

Ranma stares down upon the cute, Hyuga girl for a silent moment. The knives still tucked away under her clothes, the way she walks, her awareness of her surroundings. Hinata has all the tell-tell signs of combat training. But, even with that, and her own words somehow Ranma cannot believe that the sweet little girl sitting in front of him actually _wants_ to learn martial arts. The thought alone of dragging Hinata through the hell that is training makes Ranma feel like a criminal.

But..., she _asked,_ and really, the kids need a bit of self defense. Just in case.

"Okay, then, I'll see what I can think up while we're walki-"

"Teach them tetsudan."

Ranma's eyes shoot to his father's retreating back. Taking a few fast steps of his own, Ranma quickly catches up. "What did you say, Pop?"

Genma shifts his gaze toward his son and regards the boy through glasses smudged with dirt and oil. After a moment of silence Genma tosses his son a hunk of dried beef. "I told you to teach them tetsudan, boy."

"Yeah, I heard you the first time," Ranma retorts before ripping into a length of beef with his teeth. He chews twice before pocketing the food in his left cheek. "I just thought I must've been hearing things so I asked again."

The older man stops and glares at Ranma while the two children do their best to catch up.

Ranma meets his father's eye without hesitation. "You seriously want to teach two kids iron bullet throwing? They'll end up killing someone."

"I case you've missed it, boy, people are trying to kill them." Genma shifts his glasses and breaks his son's gaze. "At the very least they ought to be able to return the favor."

Ranma grimaces. "Yeah, I suppose you got a point there, Pop," Ranma trails off. "Still, I don't like it. If we're going to teach them anything I'd rather teach them hand-to-hand. Harder to accidentally kill someone that way."

Genma snorts. "Don't be a fool, boy. If those brats try to go toe-to-toe with an adult and they'll be dead before they can blink. At least with throwing techniques they'll be able to stage a fighting retreat. With luck they might manage more than that. Besides, they can learn tetsudan while they walk."

"So you're going to teach us a cool technique?" An energetic voice broke in. Naruto bounces in step with the older men, radiating eagerness.

Ranma reluctantly looks down at the boy and then over at the dark-haired girl who hangs back. With another sigh he says, "Yeah, Pop and I decided to teach-"

"_You_ will be teaching them, boy. I've got scrolls to read," Genma interrupts.

"Correction, _I'll _be teaching you tetsudan," Ranma says glaring at his father's back.

"Awesome!" Naruto shouts, then the blond grabs the milky-eyed girl and drags her close. "Did you hear that Hinata? They're going to teach us kick ass techniques."

Ranma eyes darken. "Don't be so damn eager, or I won't teach you anything. This is Pop's idea, but no matter what the old man says, if I think you can't handle the responsibility-"

A stuttering grunt escapes Genma, sounding suspiciously like a laugh.

"Shut up, Pop!" Ranma growls before whirling back to the wide eyed kids. Closing his eyes, Ranma grimaces. "I don't mean to lecture you or anything, but you can kill someone with this technique. So I'll make myself utterly clear, if I _ever_ see you use tetsudan on someone that doesn't have it coming, you'll beg for the mercy Pop and I showed those guy's we ran into yesterday."

Ranma smiles cruelly when the kids give an almost audible gulp.

"Okay, the basic principle of testudan is throwing." With the toe of his shoe Ranma flips a pair of rocks into the air and snatches them with his left hand. "There's nothing special there, the real meat is in the ki. Basically, you've got to kind of get this 'feel', like the rock in your hand isn't a rock, but instead a big ass cannon ball. Your arm, of course, being the cannon. Then, when it feels just right, you let her rip."

With a whip of his arm, Ranma sends a small rock winging through the air. With a thud it smashes into a tree causing a small puff of splinters to spew out. A second thud follows the first when the rock penetrates clear through the trunk before smacking into a second tree deeper in the forest.

Ranma smirks as Naruto stares in awe. Even Hinata looks impressed.

"And that, kids, is tetsudan. Of course, if that tree were Pop, he'd just be giving you an evil glare, but normal people won't be getting off so easy."

Thunk! Thunk! Thunk! Eyes already turned away, Naruto quickly hurls every piece of ammunition he can get his grubby little hands on. His energy seemingly inexhaustible despite the obvious disappointment when rocks, sticks, and clumps of mud are are effortlessly deflected by the thick trunks of the trees. Beside him Hinata, takes a calmer approach. She instead peers deeply at a single rock that sits in her hand as though waiting for it to reveal the inner secrets of the universe.

Ranma shakes his head smiling to himself as a wave of nostalgia sweeps over him. Has it really been so long since, Pop taught him tetsudan? Which of the two had he been more like? Naruto who flings himself into the training without thought, seeking to uncover the right method with the brute force of trial and error? Or the like the cute milky-eyed Hinata who understands that there _must_ be some trick to it?

Suddenly, Ranma feels strangely old.

"A-ano...," Hinata says quietly. She stares up, her pale-lavender eyes now surrounded by grotesque, bulging veins. "Could you sh-show us one more time?"

Ranma pulls himself from his reminiscence. "Uh- Yeah, sure not a problem."

Ranma tosses the remaining rock in his left hand a couple of time while both of the children watch carefully. Then with a flash of his hand he sends the rock in a wide curve that plows clean through a thin tree before burying itself in the dirt.

Hinata nods to herself thoughtfully before turning to her blond haired companion. "Naruto-k-kun. I think we need to fill the r-rock with our chakra before throwing it." The girl looks down nervously while glancing between the pigtailed boy and her crush.

"Of course! Why didn't I think of that!" Naruto nods violently. Bending down the blond grabs a new rock and concentrates hard.

Ranma laughs. "I wouldn't do that if I were-"

Bang! In a puff of powder the rock explodes in Naruto's hand. Coughing the small boy grimaces and plucks a few little bits of rock from his forehead.

"- you..., because it'll explode," Ranma finishes. "But I guess you figured that much out already."

"You could have told me that earlier, bastard," Naruto grumbles while glaring at the pigtailed boy.

"Yeah, well, you didn't exactly give me a chance." Ranma grins at the boy. "On the bright side you've both got pretty good control of your ki, for kids anyway."

Naruto ignores him and stubbornly plucks up another rock. Standing slightly further away than before, Hinata shares the boy's effort with her own stone, though she wears a clear frown and shoots Ranma shy glances.

"There's more to it than just putting your ki into it. Its all about the _kind_ of ki you put into it," Ranma explains, speaking up. "Its not something that's easy to explain. But it has to _feel_ right."

Ranma frowns and strokes his chin for a few moments. "Ah. I got an idea that might help. Here," Ranma says pulling out two knives he stole from the blond brat yesterday. "Takes these and- _don't!_ _..."_

Thunk! No sooner than the knife is in Naruto's hand then the blond throws it at a tree.

Ranma sighs, "Grab that knife brat, and _don't_ throw it. In fact, you're forbidden from throwing real weapons for this part of the training. Now what I want you to do it to put your ki into that knife. Get a handle on how it feels when your ki is in that knife. Then, when you pick up a rock, a stick, or whatever, I want you to put your ki into that too. Except, you're going to try to make the ki in your rock _feel_ like the ki feels when it is in the knife. Once they feel the same, _that_ is when you throw your _improvised weapon_!"

"Awww!" Naruto whines. "That's no fun."

Despite the boy's words, Ranma can already tell that Naruto is eagerly throwing himself into the training. The kunai almost glows with brutal energy in the boy's hands, and Naruto doesn't hesitate a second before pelting trees with anything he can throw. Maybe a bit too eager, really, but the boy's spirit is in the right place.

Hinata on the other hand, isn't throwing anything. She focuses solely on studying her how her ki flows through the knife.

"Now, don't think too hard about it right now. This is something you can only really learn by doing over and over again. So, until Pop or I say otherwise, I want to you two to throw one thing every fifty steps or so," Ranma nods to himself. "And not just rocks either. Throw whatever you can find nearby. I don't care what it is, twigs, rocks, roots, even leaves if you can manage it."

Ranma walks slowly, watching the children for a few minutes, until he thinks both are throwing objects at a pace that lends itself to both experiment and analysis. Then he picks up the pace until he and the children catch up with his father. "You know, once you learn tetsudan there are hundreds of awesome variations of the technique," Ranma says with a sudden sly smile. "The best one I've ever seen came from this crazy iron chef-dude and his unstoppable knives of doom."

Genma offers his son a dirty look. Ranma smirks in answer.

"Of course, Pop just _had_ to go and piss the guy off. Next thing he knows, there's dozens of knives following him. When I mean following him, I mean _following _him. Around corners, down the street, and even a few miles of running out of town. There they were, zipping through the air as easy as you please, slicing clean through anything that got in their way: trees, walls, cast iron pots, the works. So, scared out of his wits, and faced with certain, steely death, what could my old man do...?"

-oOo-

Quietly leaping from tree to tree Kakashi shadows the quartet from several hundred meters back. While he moves stealthily from limb to limb, he ponders the situation. The kidnappers are surprisingly friendly, going so far as to teach the abducted children how to better defend themselves. Of course, as a ninja, Kakashi cannot dismiss the possibility that the kindness is an act. Such friendliness is quite literally 'by the book' when it comes to subverting and redirecting loyalties.

Still, he also cannot dismiss that this may be some great mistake. One whose solution has been made worse by those who wished to purge Konoha of the Kyuubi. Hiashi's own self serving hand has done little to mitigate the mess. So Kakashi is left alone, with depleted chakra reserves, to face two supremely skilled opponents. It is not the kind of situation the silver haired shinobi favors.

Mentally, Kakashi evaluates his two potential opponents. Hiashi had described the older man in clear and stark terms. _'Might Guy with the sharingan'_. A flat statement potent enough to send chills down the spines of S-classed ninja. After watching the younger of flatten two chunin and a pair of veteran genin, Kakashi came to understand what the Hyuga clan head had meant with his words. The young pigtailed boy, 'Ranma' – if Kakashi caught the name correctly – has the skill, speed and strength of a taijutsu specialist paired with an eerie agility and a reaction rate rarely seen outside of the Uchiha clan. A frightening combination to be sure.

But, what had captured Kakashi's eye as he carefully recorded the battle with his sharingan was not the boy's monstrous perfection in the realm of taijutsu, but instead a trait the silver haired ninja found far more fearsome. The battle had been no battle at all. From very the beginning Ranma had been a maestro, orchestrating every punch, kick, and throw. His enemies unwittingly danced to the boy's song of fist and flesh. Puppets pulled by invisible strings. Only for a moment had the boy's enemies escaped that grasp. An event that the boy reacted to be instantly bringing the battle to an end.

Such mastery and comprehension of the battlefield results only from experience. Ranma, Kakashi notes, must have fought hundreds of opponents prior to this. The father's cool and calm laziness tells the Kakashi that the older man is no different.

Genjutsu, however, hangs in Kakashi's mind. Ranma had stumbled when encountering a genjutsu technique, where taijutsu and ninjutsu hadn't made the boy blink. A weakness perhaps? Other details lingered as well. The boy's movements were smooth, a flowing continuous assault of strength and speed. To Kakashi, the fluid style has an almost foreign flavor. Ninja _jerk_ with sudden explosive intensity as they shovel chakra from limb to limb. A flash of shunshin, a pause, and then, a sudden strike.

The boy, however, was symphony of movement which blended through each attack, leap and strike. Power ever present, as though chakra flowed occupied arms, legs, and chest simultaneously. Under the sharigan the boy actually _glowed_ with a surrounding aura of energy. A modern reikijutsu master, perhaps? If so, the boy's peak strength and speed are less than similarly powerful ninja. In which case the lightning speed of a well executed chidori may be a deadly solution.

Assuming, of course, that an unnatural resilience like that of the father, did not render the boy immune....

Kakashi allows tactics and explorations to dance across his mind, but all the while he reminds himself of an uncomfortable fact. His chakra is already strained. Besides, so long as the friendly neighborhood kidnappers are content to meander though the woods there isn't any cause to rush.

-oOo-

"Hmm," Genma mumbles thoughtfully as he cocks his head to the left side.

"Hm," Genma grunts again throwing his head to the right.

"Hmmmm," he drags on slightly longer while adjusting his glasses. "This is a rather large lake, isn't it?"

Ranma glances back at the foothills they just crossed, and further South at the mountains. He then frowns as he conjures up a slightly fuzzy memory of China's geography. His little mental dot that declared _you are here_ far in the country's west is suddenly and inexplicably updated to China's coast. The two-thousand miles in between?

...

Well... stranger things have happened.

"You know," Ranma begins after a minute of thought. "That looks a lot like the ocean to me."

"Don't be absurd, boy. We are over a thousand miles from the ocean."

"Yeah, maybe if 'ya never got lost there might of been," Ranma retorts. The pigtailed boy then bends down and sticks a finger in the water. Lifting it to his lips he takes a lick. Salt. "It's the ocean alright, Pop."

"Boy, its impossible for me to get that lost," Genma growls back. "Besides, the ocean isn't the only salty body of water."

Ranma puts his hands on his hips. "Oh yeah, Pop. Name _one_ gigantic, salty lake."

"The dead sea."

Ranma suddenly cringes. "Yeah, okay, so there are salty lakes. Should of known that. But I never heard of any lake _this_ size in China, much less a _salty_ one."

"Well, boy," Genma says swerving his eyes to meet his son's. "Maybe that's because you haven't been STUDYING HARD ENOUGH!!!"

As Genma's voice echoes off the hills Ranma removes his hands from his ears and then wiggles a finger in his right one in a vain attempt to stop the ringing. "Yeesh, Pop. Trying to wake up everyone in a hundred mile radius? Fine, its a 'lake' if you say so." Ranma says rolling his eyes. "What's the plan then? I don't think the kids can swim it, lake or no."

Genma grunts and nods to himself. Then he thrusts a finger into the air. "We walk it!"

Ranma blinks. "Ah! That water walking technique you were showing me. Sure, we can give a try." Ranma then frowns. "Ya know, we might want to have the kids learn it too. They seem to have a pretty good hand on ki control."

Ranma suddenly smirks, "Besides, I'm pretty sure if we don't switch his training soon, the blond is going to explode."

Glancing back at the tree line, Ranma watches Hinata and Naruto for a moment as they bumble around ineptly. Both of the children are blindfolded, and have their arms crossed in front of their body. They bounce pathetically on one leg attempting to find the other and knock them down. Ranma snickers when Naruto slams into a tree instead and falls flat on his back.

"Hey, kids!" Ranma shouts.

Both of the children stop. Hinata sets her left leg on the ground while Naruto pulls himself back to his feet.

"Is it time to switch legs again?" Naruto asks, as he stands.

"Nope, we're done with that game for today. Get your butts over here next to Pop and me," Ranma replies. He's about to look away when he sees the blond and the girl reach for their blindfolds. "And I didn't say anything about removing those!"

Ranma grins as he watches the boy trip over some debris before making it to the beaches' edge. He feels a sorry for Hinata though. Still, the cute Hyuga girl bears her own scraps well.

Finally the two kids gather next to him.

"Okay kids, you can take them off now," Ranma says motioning to the bandanna blinds folds.

Naruto rips the sweat soaked bandanna from his eyes, and rapidly blinks away the bright light that floods his vision. Hinata unties hers slowly and then folding it neatly.

With both of the children able to see, Ranma continues, "Pop and I are going to try to learn this new 'water walking' technique, and I figured the two of you'd like a change of pace so we're going to let you have a go at it with- Oooff!"

Ranma train of thought is derailed when a rock as thick as his chest is tall is slammed against his back. Behind Ranma, Genma rapidly ties the huge boulder to his son. Once the mass is secured the older man lifts his own load and begins to fasten it to himself.

"Pop, one of these days I'd like to learn a technique _without_ being subject to you psychotic interpretation of training."

"The line between madness and genius is paper thin, boy," Genma declares. "That's why we can be sure that if we do the insane, we'll inevitably achieve genius."

"Or die trying...," Ranma mutters under his breath.

"Boy!" Genma shouts, suddenly grabbing the front of Ranma's gi. "Stop whining like-" Whoosh! The older man tosses his son high into the air. "- a girl!"

"~Waaaaaaaa~!" Ka-ploosh! Water explodes upward as Ranma cannon balls into the 'lake' dozens of meters from where his father threw him. Huge waves cascade onto the beach, briefly overwhelming the continual surge.

"Hmph, serves the boy right," Genma grunts, before turning his eyes back to the kids.

Wide-eyed and terrified they stare up at him.

"You aren't going to tie one of _those_ things to our back and throw us into the water, are you?" Naruto asks, terrified.

Hinata watches in mute horror.

Genma turns his back on the children paying them little mind. Wading into the water until the surging waves reach knee deep, the old man speaks casually. "Don't be stupid, brat. If I threw you in like that, you'd drown. You need at least three more months of experience before your ready for that kind of training."

Splash. Splash. Genma hops up and down in the water while alternating his head side to side in consideration. Suddenly he glances back. "What are you waiting for brats? Get in the water!"

The two children rush forward only to stop when something large rises to the lake's surface. Water cascades off of its enormous bulk, rivulets dribbling off a tent of torn kelp. Pale, fleshy appendages part the curtain of green revealing... Ranma.

"You trying to kill me, Pop!"

"Hmph, my son isn't so weak as to die from a little bit of water," Genma retorts. The older man sets a foot atop of incoming wave and briefly rises a bare inch in height before the limb splashes through the surface once more. "It appears that I'm missing something."

"A-Ano," Hinata says softly, drawing attention to herself. "How i-is this technique s-supposed to work?"

"Uh, well...," Ranma scratches his head and glances at his father. The older man steadfastly ignores the searching gaze. "From what the scroll said, you gotta put ki out of your feet or something. Don't know how it works from there, probably pushes off the surface...," Ranma ventures finally.

"The purpose is to solidify the water beneath you're feet by using your ki to make it part of yourself," Genma explains, he then gives his son a look. "If it'd involved pushing with your ki, it'd be a flying technique, not a water walking one."

Ranma shrugs, "Don't give me that, old man. The only reason you've got any idea on how it works is because you've been hogging the scrolls and had more time to experiment. Heh, I bet you anything that half your explanation is bullshit and ignorance anyway."

Smirking at his father's fuming Ranma repeatedly bounds out of the water and lands on the rolling surface. Testing Genma's advice, he infuses the surface with his ki each time he touches it. With trial and error, Ranma quickly finds that he can get brief traction, but the continual wash of water combined with his sheer weight are just too much and the technique folds. Still, there _is_ just a bit of promise to the concept. Ranma smiles wide, this may be a _real_ water walking technique, not one of the mumbo-jumbo fraudulent arts that he and Pop ran into far more often than not. Lost or not, being able to walk on water would make the whole trip to China worth it.

"Hey, hey! I'm sta- waaaa!" Naruto's arms flail in the air before the blond is sucked under the waves.

Ranma's smirk turns dark. The blond kid had stood. Briefly yes, but he had _stood_. Somehow a little blond brat has stumbled upon something Ranma and Genma haven't figured out quite yet. Ranma's pride fights this awareness. _Impossible. Its only because he doesn't have a boulder on his back. _Excuses crisscross the pigtailed boy's mind. Certainly, the brat's success cannot be because the brat actual _understands_ something. Random chance, it won't be repeated.

Pushing aside such thoughts, Ranma makes a mental note to work harder on the blond's balance. The kid has no grace whatsoever.

-oOo-

"Byakugan," Hinata whispers.

At once her eyes pulse as blood and chakra flood into them. All around the world explodes with new light. The ground glows with the flowing life force of bugs, bacteria, the brilliant energy of nature itself. Trees become fountains of power reaching high into the sky, the wind and clouds shimmer with secret spirits, and the sea is a deep, swirling, mass of unfathomable energy.

A dull and almost painful pressure behind her eyes ruins the vision's beauty, and the flood of new information causes her mind to waver. For a moment, Hinata loses all awareness of what is around her. She sees, but does not understand. Then, discipline taught ruthlessly by her father asserts itself. Hinata sharpens her mind on a single point tracing the grains of sand at her feet. Then, she allows her vision to expand until it wraps everything around her. Aware once more, Hinata turns her attention to the Saotomes.

Ranma and Genma splash amongst the rolling waves, setting foot again and again atop the water's surface. Hinata watches as their chakra flows. It spills from every pore of skin, a rippling curtain of energy that runs like a river across their bodies before gathering around their feet. Then it _reaches_, alive, grasping, grabbing, embracing the water below it.

It is a mysterious and beautiful sight.

To her right, Naruto's efforts are a far cry from that of the Saotomes. The blond boy's energies instead gather in his lowest chakras before being thrust downwards. All along his legs the spirit sprays out with misty force before shooting out of Naruto's feet. Unlike with the Saotome's, Naruto's energy is dead. A raw energy that is propelled, but has no life.

Yet, when Naruto's chakra reaches the water the reaction is entirely different. Beneath the blond's feet is a storm of force. His spirit meets the spirit of water and they react with a creative violence.

Releasing her byakugan, Hinata blinks her eyes as they adjust themselves back to the colors and limits of humanity. It is almost ironic, that the efforts of two masters are being beaten by the crude fumbling attempts of a young boy. She stares for a moment at Naruto as he stands once more atop a wave for a startling second before being sucked under the swell. She then glances back over to Ranma and Genma. She now knows that they are doing everything wrong, but..., can she say it?

... Naruto-kun would say something....

Taking a deep breath, Hinata opens her mouth, closes it, and opens it once more. "A-a-ano...," she finally squeaks as hesitance wars with bravery.

"Eh?" Ranma replies, glancing over his shoulder. He smiles brightly.

"I-I think you are doing it wrong," Hinata barely manages. She stares at the ground refusing to glance up lest her courage flee at the sight of the boy's dismissal. "I th-think you need to m-move your ch-chakra internally."

Finally, unable to resist, her gaze rises. At once she sees the young man's scrunched up face and doubt filled eyes.

"I don't really think that it works li- Ow!" Ranma's words stop when his father's hand smacks against the back of his head. "What did you do that for, Pop?"

"Shut up, boy," Genma growls as he stomps forward. With each step the large man's feet dig divots in the sand, his own large weight combined with the mass of the bounder causing him to sink deeply into the wet beach. Standing close Genma lowers his face so it nears the girl's height. Reflected sunlight shrouds his eyes as he stares into those of the girl. "Now, what were you saying, girl?"

Hinata quivers under the intensity of the older martial artist's presence. As she peers up at the stern visage her throat clenches tight allowing only squeaks to escape.

"Hey!"

Suddenly, a small blond shape places itself between her and the largest Saotome. Naruto glares up at the older man.

"Leave Hinata alone, y- ~waaaaaaa~" Ka-plunk!

The impact of Naruto upon the water produces a wave tiny in comparison of the one left by Ranma earlier. Absurdity wars with the seriousness, and suddenly Hinata finds Genma's intensity impossibly silly rather than strict. Beyond her control a giggle rises in her throat and escapes.

Genma simply adjusts his glasses as though nothing had happened. "Now, girl, what were you saying about moving ki internally?"

"I-"

"Hey, Pop," Ranma interrupts. "Can't you tell you're scaring her stiff," Ranma pauses to stroke his chin thoughtfully. "Don't know why though. Honestly, you might have that _mean old bastard_ look, but all I've ever been able to do when you pull it is laugh."

"Quiet boy," Genma snaps. "And this isn't my mean old bastard look. This is my _you just said something interesting_ look. The two are entirely different." Genma folds his arms across his chest while turning his head away from his son's childishly. After a moment the older Saotome's face takes on a sly visage. "Though boy, I remember how your lip used to start quiv-

"Okay, okay! I got it, Pop. I'll keep my lips sealed while you break the poor little girl's mind," Ranma shakes his head sadly, "Son of a notorious torturer of children. Oh, what shame does a father pass onto his son."

Genma glares needles at Ranma, but his son's countenance refuses to fade. Grunting, the older Saotome switches his forceful visage back to Hinata.

"Now girl, spit it out. Tell me what you were telling my boy."

This time, while the older man's wrath is more apparent than ever, Hinata finds herself stifling additional giggles rather than fighting a sudden surge of fear.

"I was s-saying that I th-think you need to move your chakra internally."

Genma grunts and slowly nods to himself. "Is that so," the older man mumbles while stroking his chin.

"Yeah really think just moving ki internally is gonna do it, Pop?" Ranma asks, his eyes flicker to the dark haired girl once more. "No offense or anything, Hinata, but we've been doing this kind of stuff for a long time."

Hinata drops her eyes to the sand at her feet. A wave of water crawls across the beach in a sheet of white foam. Sands slides, flows, and floods into the foot shaped craters, slowly, surely erasing their presence. Her gaze rises to the ocean. There, in the distance, Naruto swims toward land. Soggy, orange arms rising in and out of the blue-green sea.

"I-" Hinata explains. "I can see it. I c-can see chakra. My clan, our eyes can see chakra." She glances up at the two Saotomes, eyes flashing between their faces.

"Really?" Ranma asks. For a moment a frown mars his face, and his brow scrunches. Then with a shrug the young man's grin returns. "Guess that doesn't surprise me. Seen weirder things. Heh, _I_ am a weirder thing." He leans in close and whispers conspiratorially, "It comes with being awesome."

Genma sets a hefty hand on his son's shoulder and then shoves the young man aside. "Girl, when you saw the brat move his ki, did it start here?" The older bespectacled man lifts a starts to make a jab toward Hinata to illustrate, but suddenly stops himself. "Ha ha, I mean did he gather his energy between his hips?"

"Y-yes," Hinata answers. "He g-gathered it in his lower ch-chakras."

Genma nods sharply. "Hmm," He grunts, leaning his head to the right.

"What, Pop? Why wou- ah!" Ranma's eyes widen and his slams a fist into an open hand. "I see what you're thinking old man. You're thinking that because the ki was formed in the chakra its behaving differently."

"Got it in one, boy," Genma says nodding. "As might remember, boy, the lowest chakra muladhara, has an earth elemental nature. When earth meets water it produces wood. Wood floats. Thus, with the elemental power of wood we can float atop a lake like the witches of ancient Europe!"

"Huh? What the heck are you babbling about, Pop? Witches? Wood? Earth muddies water. Don't you remember your five elements?"

"Ah, my boy, but _which_ five elements?" Genma retorts.

From there the Saotome's descend into an argument more defined by witty retorts and flying fists than intellectualism. As a warm glow fills Hinata's heart, she allows her eyes to slide to Naruto, who is now pulling himself ashore. Sopping with water the blond boy shakes like a dog spraying a rain all around him. Then, face fixated with stubbornness, he stalks forward ready to defend her from enemies that don't really exist.

Its a wonderful feeling.

-oOo-

Thud.

Not bothering with stealth Ranma lands on the forest floor with deep sounding impact. The pigtailed boy lazily strolls up to his father, who has built a small campfire that he and the kids are gathered around.

"Hey, Pop," Ranma says plopping down on the log next to his father. The pigtailed boy lazily tosses a pair of rabbits. "Grabbed us a little bit for dinner while I was about. Bad news other than that. It's all coast North and South for a good distance. Even had myself a little swim, to see if I could see something if I got far enough out, but it doesn't look like there is anything out there to see. I'm telling you, Pop, if that's a lake, its the biggest damn lake I've ever seen."

"Its not a lake stupid. That's the ocean," Naruto pipes up.

"Foolish brat, we're well over a thousand miles from the coast," Genma retorts.

Ranma rolls his eyes. "Wow, I get this feeling that we've done this before."

Genma's eyes flash to his son. "And I told you last time, boy, that is a lake not the ocean."

"Not it isn't!" Naruto declares, folding his small arms across his chest. "And _everyone_ knows that Konoha is only two-hundred miles from the ocean. Believe it!"

Ranma wears an amused smile as his father puffs his chest. "Pop, if the locals and I both agree, then it probably you who's wrong."

"Hmph," Genma grunts. "Are you mad, boy? Are you saying I got lost?"

"You _did _get lost. That's how we ended up in Xinjiang province," Ranma frowns, "Though I suppose we must have gotten a lot more mixed up than that.... Here let me pull up the map and we can figure out where in China we are."

Ranma reaches for to his pack. The old rugged backpack is propped up against the same log he and his father sit on. As always, their traveling supplies are kept close at hand. Even for travelers as hardened as Ranma and Genma supplies are the difference between a pleasant journey and waking nightmare. As Ranma pulls the pack close and opens the top a brash voice speaks up.

"This is the Land of Fire not Xinjiang or whatever," Naruto grins. "You guys must be really stupid to end up in an entirely different country!"

"Hey," Ranma snaps. With a jerk he tears his atlas from his pack and slams it on the ground. "I did more traveling by the time that I was six than you'll do in your whole life, brat. I'll admit, Pop is pretty dim sometimes, but not even he'd pull a Hibiki. Especially not while I'm watching over his shoulder."

Flipping open the atlas, Ranma halts on a big two page map of China. He then shoves the book into the blond boy's hands. "Now make yourself useful and tell us where in China this Konoha is."

Naruto stares down at the book, looks up at the young man across from him, and peers at the pages once more. Suddenly, the blond starts to laugh, "Haha you guys are really really stupid. Konoha isn't anywhere on this map. I've never even heard of this China place anyway."

"Now who's stupid," Ranma retorts. "I don't think there's anyone that _hasn't_ heard of China."

"Ano," Hinata whispers, "I've never h-heard of Ch-china either."

Ranma freezes, and he looks down at the cute Hyuga girl in confusion. "You haven't heard of China," he asks gently, "You know, biggest country in Asia?"

"That's what we said," Naruto declares. "I've never heard of Asia, China or whatever it is you're talking about."

Ranma glances over at Hinata, who nods at Naruto's words. No China. No Asia. Even kids should know _that_ much. Its absurd, impossible even, that anyone wouldn't know of China and Asia. But, there is the ocean, two days of travel from the city named Konoha. The impossible has already occurred. Could it be that they _aren't_ in China. Not in Asia. _Not on earth_. Madness.

_Mad_, yes, but sadly, Ranma finds that he can actually _imagine it_ and even _believe it_.

Whirling on his father, Ranma makes the only accusation he can, "Damn it Pop, you got us cursed!"

"What are you talking about, boy? There's no way this could be my fault."

"Yeah sure," Ranma says sarcastically. "Think back a couple of weeks, Old Man. Remember that old monastery?"

"Hmph, I fail to see your point boy. I wasn't the one that broke that pillar. So if we got cursed it was clearly _your_ fault."

"Broke the pillar! I broke the pillar? Pop, _you_ kicked me _through_ that pillar."

"Yes, boy, I remember quite well," Genma replies, while fingering an ear. "Which is why, after listening to you whine about it the first time, I took it upon myself to put the pillar back."

"Which, if you remember, is the reason the _whole monastery collapsed._"

Genma leaps to his feet and shouts at the sky. "The gods surely forgave my ignorance of masonry!" Genma whirls on his son. "But they most certainly didn't forgive your thievery!"

Ranma folds his arms across his chest and looks affronted. "I've never stolen anything in my entire life."

"You anger the heavens with your false plea of innocence, boy! I saw quite clearly how you stole that meat bun from that small roadside shrine."

"Hey, if someone's going to leave a perfectly good meat bun, I'm going to eat it." Ranma retorts. "Besides, its not like whatever god may have inhabited that itty-bitty shrine could eat the thing. So I was doing that god a favor by making sure he didn't have a rotting bun on his front porch." Ranma eyes narrow on his father. "Besides, Pop, I know the only reason you remember that is because you wanted the meat bun for yourself."

"Don't think I'm done yet, boy," Genma declares while shifting his glasses. "Because you did more than anger the gods. You angered a _wizard_."

"Pop, that wasn't a wizard," Ranma explains slowly as though speaking to a child. "That was a fraud."

"Not a wizard you say boy? Then what of the star covered robes? The pointy hat? The wand? The staff? I think I know a wizard when I see one, boy."

"Exactly, Pop. Its easy to tell the man was a fraud because he was trying _way_ too hard to look like a wizard. Besides, everyone knows magic doesn't exist."

Genma gazes again at the heavens. "Oh, how you try me with my boy's foolishness. To think, he believes in curses but not magic?"

"Oh shut up, Pop. If you knew Ryouga you'd believe in curses too," Ranma explains. "But I've never seen a smidgen of magic, and until the day I do, I refuse to believe in it."

"Which, boy, is exactly why you got _us_ cursed by that wizard," Genma declares while making a stiff nod to accentuate the conclusion.

"Whatever," Ranma dismisses. With a sigh the boy allows himself to drop back down on the log. "Rather than wasting our breath arguing, we should start by figuring out where we are, and how we get back."

Ranma looks over at the two children. "So, the two of you were saying something about the Land of Fire?"

"That's right! The Land of Fire is the awesomest of the elemental nations," Naruto declares. "We've got the strongest ninja, and old man Hokage is cool."

Ranma nods inattentively with the blond boy's speech. He then turns to his father. "Say, Pop, you manage to pick up any maps while you were robbing the local library."

Genma raises his nose to his son, but begins to ruffle through his infinitely deep pockets anyway. "I didn't rob the library, boy. I am merely borrowing the scrolls. You understand that right, boy? That libraries are places you _borrow_ books from."

"Oh please. Well then, Pop, come on. Show me your library card and _prove_ to me you checked those scrolls out properly."

Rather than answering, Genma steadfastly ignores Ranma. Carefully the bespectacled man unrolls a series of scrolls and examines their contents. One by one they gather in a neat pile beside him. Ranma takes a chance to nab one of the rolled up pieces of parchment and get a better look the goods.

Scanning the scroll Ranma saw a series of pictures, each with a set of hands in variant positions. '_Hand seals are the foundation of most ninjutsu techniques. By using hand seals a ninja control how chakra energy is formulated and released. For instance the bird..._

"Here, boy. This looks like a map," Genma says handing yellowed parchment over to his son.

Ranma sets down the scroll he grabbed, and looks at the one his father set in his lap. After a few minutes of staring at the parchment Ranma speaks. "Damn, this doesn't look anything like China. Well, Pop, it looks like we've got a lot of traveling ahead of us to get back home, assuming we are even on the same planet."

Genma grunts, and adjusts his glasses. "I've got an idea what we can do about that boy. In one of these scrolls I ran across a reference for a way to summon dragons."

"Let me guess, it involves collecting seven yellow balls...," Ranma says with a flat voice.

Genma stares at his son. "What in the world are you talking about, boy? Yellow balls? How silly. No, apparently there's a scroll that if you sign with blood and use the correct mudra, you can summon a dragon."

"_Okay_, I don't suppose we have to part with our immortal souls while we're at it?" Ranma gives a sidelong look to his father. "Though in your case, promising your immortal soul would probably start an inter-demonic war or something."

Ranma lounges back on the log he and his father are sitting on, and stares the star filled sky for a long moment. For a moment a vague memory crosses his mind. Hadn't the blond boy said something about dragons? Ranma dismisses the thought. What does he care about dragons anyway?

With a sigh, Ranma rolls back up to a sitting position, and picks up one of the rabbits he had captured. Using a knife, the pigtailed boy starts slicing away the dead animal's skin.

"So, since you brought it up, I don't suppose you have any idea where this scroll can be found?"

"Kumo," Genma answers promptly. "The dragon summoning scroll belongs to the Daimyou of Lightning, and is held in trust by the Raikage."

"Ah," Ranma mumbles. He reaches to his right and picks up a stripped stick and skewers the rabbit with it and sets it over the fire. "Lightning Shadow and Fire Shadow, eh? Explain this to me, how can anything that glows be a shadow?"

Ranma glances up at the kids with an amused smile. That smile quickly vanishes when he notices Hinata, who stares at the ground trembling slightly.

"Something wrong over there, Hinata?" Ranma asks.

Naruto, who sits at the young Hyuga's side, glances over at his companion. Grabbing a the dark haired girl's shoulder gently the blond boy says, "Yeah, what's wrong Hinata? Did those jackasses say something mean to you? If they did I'll kick their ass. Just tell me who and I'll kick their ass, believe it!"

Despite himself Ranma laughs, "Brat, you're way too early to kick any ass but your own." Still chuckling lightly, Ranma says, "No really. Pop, and I might not be the most cuddly people, but if something is wrong you should just say it."

Hinata raises her pale lavender eyes first to Naruto then to Ranma. She manages a weak smile. "I- I don't w-want to go to Kumo."

Ranma grins and flips his knife into the air. "Then lets not go to Kumo."

"No," Genma interrupts strongly.

Ranma stops suddenly, and jerks his head to face his father. "What did you say, Pop?"

"I said, the we _are_ going to, Kumo."

"Come on, Pop, can't you see that she's scared," Ranma says, gesturing toward the girl across the fire. "I'm not dragging her somewhere if she doesn't want go."

"Yeah," Naruto addends, nodding sharply.

Genma glances up from second rabbit, which is now dressed and skewered like the first. "Boy, without that scroll we aren't going home."

Ranma sighs and glances at Hinata once more. The girl is truly scared about the idea of going to Kumo. "Come on, Pop. We can swing by that way later. They've got some pretty neat tricks around this place. Mud people, fire dragons, water walking, even a really cool variation of replacement technique. There's no need to rush home."

"Kumo and that's final!" Genma booms. "I'm not changing plans just because a little girl gets a bit scared."

Ranma opens his mouth to shout something back, but Naruto beats him to the punch.

"Hey! If Hinata doesn't want to go then _we_ aren't going."

The little blond glares up at the tall broad shouldered Genma. The older Saotome returns a stare just as fierce, his jaw and posture steadfast.

"Pop, there's no need to be so stubborn" Ranma says. When his words do nothing to move his father Ranma sighs. "Yeesh, you're such a bastard sometimes, Pop."

Ranma settles his head into a hand, and nurses a headache. Genma is obviously intending to go to Kumo whether Ranma likes it or not. Frankly, Ranma is of half a mind of letting Genma go alone, but moments after that thought come the images of inevitable trouble, a poorly done heist, and a dead father. He and Pop might not always get along, but Ranma doesn't want to see his father dead.

"Okay, how about this. We find someplace to dump Hinata and Naruto for a couple of days, and steal the scroll, summon our dragon, and send the parchment back through the mail. That way everyone's happy."

Genma turns his gaze to his son. Slowly the older Saotome adjusts his glasses. "Boy, the children are being hunted. I won't allow the children to be killed on my watch, and that's exactly what will happen if we leave them alone."

"Exactly how far do you think those Ninja will chase these kids down, Pop."

Genma eyes flicker with vanishing quickness out into the depths of the woods. "To the ends of the earth apparently."

Ranma stills suddenly, and allows himself to circumspectly glance in the direction his father had. Just trees, shadows, and... ...a presence? For and instant Ranma sees the shadows shift, but the movement is so fast that he isn't sure it happened at all. Still, a wariness settles upon Ranma, and the pigtailed boy allows more of his attention stretch into the terrain around them.

"Kumo...," Hinata's soft and quite voice breaks the period of silence. "If Kumo s-sees me they'll kn-know that I'm Hyuga. T-they'll remove my e-eyes."

In an instant, Ranma's mind snaps back to the young girl. Disgust creeps onto the pigtailed boy's face. Cut out her eyes? Disbelief strikes Ranma immediately at the thought. "Why on earth would anyone want to cut out your eyes?"

"B-because I c-can see chakra, and if they had my e-eyes though could see it too," Hinata explains.

Next to Ranma, Genma suddenly sits. "I see," the older man mumbles, his voice barely audible.

"Well," Ranma says. "I think even, Pop will drop the idea of going to Kumo now."

"No."

Ranma jerks his head toward his father. "What? You're still stuck on that idea? What's wrong with you?"

"Quiet, boy. I'm thinking," Genma retorts. The older man is silent for a few seconds and then he begins rifling through the scrolls. "Here," Genma grunts shoving the rolled up paper into his son's hands. "We teach them the technique on that scroll. We'll also take a few days to teach the brats a bit of anything goes. I don't think I like a country that murders boys and rips out the eyes of little girls."

Ranma nods to his father's words. "Yeah, I'm starting to think I might want to show them something nastier than tetsudan. Good to teach them real self defense though. Kids have no business learning techniques that can kill or maim. It just isn't right."

To Ranma's right, Genma grunts in agreement. For a while the two are silent and Ranma listens half attentively to Naruto's wild descriptions on how he'll single handedly defeat the whole nation of eye thieves. Within the lull in conversation, Ranma glances down at the scroll his father handed him. The contents describe a technique called henge and a variety of interesting variations.

"Heh," Ranma half-grunts half-laughs. "Interesting idea old man."

-oOo-

_**Trivia**_

_**Kusarigama –**_ A sickle with a chain attached. Properly the weapon's chain is used to wrap the enemy's weapon or legs after which the attacker charges in to finish the opponent off. Ironically, the typical ninja anime/manga shows the wielder striking by throwing the sickle end instead. Hence, the 'not really historically accurate' depiction here.

_**Muladhara – **_The lowest of the seven major chakra. Symbolically, and for story purposes, this chakra has an earth based nature.

_**Mudra --** _Traditional Buddhist/Hindu handseals. Some are actually used in old, but _real_ martial arts disciplines.

_**Naruto vs Ranma 1/2 III -- Reikijutsu**_

_Kakashi in this chapter speculates that Ranma and Genma may be reikijutsu [lit. aura technique] masters. In the prehistory of Seven Village Stomp reikijutsu pre-existed ninjutsu, but, because ninjutsu is easier to learn, easier to teach, more versatile, and often more powerful, reikijutsu has been largely supplemented in the Naruto-verse._

_Reikijutsu is the philosophy and technique of aura mimicry, enhancement, and transference. For instance a reikijutsu samurai will attempt to synchronize their aura with their sword. Once the two became one the samurai then uses his 'ki' to enhance the swords 'traits'. In other conditions, that same samurai could attempt to treat another 'object' as his sword by 'transferring' or imposing a sword's aura upon that item. In doing so objects such as a boken (wooden sword) can obtain the cutting power of a ki-enhanced katana._

_Similar principles apply to iron cloth – transfer the properties of 'iron' to cloth, tetsudan, and other reikijutsu techniques._

_These principles extend beyond just weapons and to the martial artist himself. A reikijutsu master strives to learn and transfer aura aspects to his own body so that he might have the 'toughness of iron', the 'strength of a bear', 'eyes like an eagle', etc.... In this sense, the Musk in Ranma ½, take the principles of reikijutsu to the extreme by literally obtaining the 'spirit' of these animals through blood inheritance._

_Ninjutsu is quite different. Where as reikijutsu involves obtaining and amplifying traits through the use of aura, Ninjutsu involves altering the fundamental nature of naturally produced ki by using the body's chakra. Generally the energy is molded in one of the seven chakra nodes so as to distill specific 'elemental' natures. This energy is then further manipulated and controlled through a formalized system of mudra (hand seals)._

_The net result is a highly scientific ki manipulation art. Where aura's can only be produced by 'feel' and 'experience', once a ninjutsu master learns how to mold chakra in certain ways he can produce any technique that requires that energy by simply duplicating already known hand seal and energy combination sets._

_**Techniques**_

_I make no promises any of these translations are accurate. They were obtained by cursory examination and evaluation of words (and occasional Kanji) in a Japanese dictionary. I do not speak or read Japanese, and will not pretend that I can._

**_Magen: Igamu_** **_Bijon_** [_lit. Demonic Illusion: Warped Vision_] -- A simple genjutsu technique that distorts visual sensory input. This technique is not easily disrupted by pain, as it depends on neither the internal generation of dreamlike hallucinations nor emotional manipulation. It is, however, easily disrupted by 'kai' and has a short effect time.

**_Water Walking_** [CANON] – More a skill than a technique. Naruto canon describes this technique as merely involving a 'steady stream of chakra released from the feet'. Obviously, for Seven Village Stomp, there had to be more to it than that, otherwise Ranma and Genma would already have had the skill.

_**Byakugan**_ [CANON] – A blood limit inherited by the majority of the Hyuga clan. When given ki and 'released' this eye technique/genetic feature allows the user to see ki in great detail. Additionally it grants all-around-vision, the ability to see through many objects, and telescopic vision. Note that all of these traits have their own limits. For instance, 360-degree vision does not grant 360-degree _awareness, _it is harder to see through an object the more ki it has, etc...

**_Tetsudan _**[_lit. Iron Bullet_] -- A foundational ki throwing technique. The user imbues the thrown weapon with an aura of 'iron', 'force', and 'momentum' causing the weapon to behave as though it is harder, denser, and thrown with more force. More advanced throwing techniques often build on tetsudan by adding aura traits like 'cutting', 'penetration', or even 'seeking'. Ranma ½ thrown weapon such as steel denting takoyaki balls, boomerang razor bandannas of death, and lamp post penetrating teaspoons all derive from this technique.


End file.
